CHAPTER 561
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27
URGING ALL COUNSEL FOR THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND DEFENDANT SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO APPEAL THE COURT DECISIONS IN EVANS V. BUCHANAN WHICH ARE NOT BASED UPON PROVEN VIOLATIONS.
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court by a four to three vote (with two Justices not participating) refused to grant a Writ of Certiorari in the case of Evans v. Buchanan and thereby denied the State of Delaware a review of the District Court decision (by a two to one vote of the three Judges) and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision (by a four to three vote of the seven Judges); and
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in many recent cases has repeatedly stated that intent on the part of state officials to discriminate must be proven and that the scope of any remedy imposed in a school desegregation case must be commensurate with specified and proven violations; and
WHEREAS, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware did not find discriminatory intent by state officials; and
WHEREAS, there has been no showing that the scope of the remedy approved by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is commensurate with the alleged violation found by the DistrictCourt;and
WHEREAS, the 129th General Assembly of the State of Delaware finds that the Supreme Court's refusal to grant a Writ of Certiorari under these circumstances is an affront to the standards of justice and an affront to the people of the sovereign State of Delaware.
BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the 129th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, the Governor concurring therein, that all counsel for the State Board of Education and the defendant suburban New Castle County School Districts are hereby urged to petition for a reargument to the United States Supreme Court in order to obtain a definitive ruling in Evans v. Buchanan by the Supreme Court, or a remand to a lower Court for further evidentiary hearings.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all counsel for the State Board of Education and the defendant suburban New Castle County School Districts are hereby urged to vigorously appeal any District Court-imposed remedies to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and to the United States Supreme Court which do not, in their view, represent compliance with the applicable Constitutional and legal standards for remedial desegregation plans.
Approved October 15, 1977.