ELC Joins Legal Team in Landmark Minnesota School Desegregation Case

Education Law Center has joined the team of attorneys representing the plaintiffs in Cruz-Guzman v. State, the Minnesota lawsuit challenging school segregation in the Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts. 

The plaintiffs in Cruz-Guzman are parents and children enrolled in public schools in the two cities. They filed a class action complaint in 2015, contending that school segregation deprived children in these districts of an adequate education under the Minnesota Constitution’s Education Clause and violated other state constitutional guarantees. The complaint alleged that consigning students to schools segregated by race and socio-economic status harms their academic and life outcomes.

The State moved to dismiss the case in 2017, arguing that segregation was a “political question” that could not be decided by the courts. The Minnesota Supreme Court disagreed in its 2018 decision and ruled that it was appropriate for the courts to evaluate whether the Legislature failed to fulfill its constitutional mandate to provide “a general and uniform system of public schools” that is “thorough and efficient.”

ELC, along with over 20 of the nation’s leading education and constitutional law scholars, filed an amici curiae, or “friends of the court,” brief in the Minnesota Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs.

In 2021, after the Minnesota Legislature failed to enact a voluntary desegregation plan proposed jointly by the plaintiffs and the State to settle the case, the plaintiffs asked for partial summary judgment on their Education Clause claim. The district court denied the plaintiffs’ motion, ruling that only de jure, or intentional, segregation could be the basis of an Education Clause claim. The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling, and the plaintiffs appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court. ELC, together with 33 of the nation’s leading education law scholars, submitted an amici curiae brief supporting the plaintiffs in this appeal as well.

The Supreme Court ruled that because the State has an affirmative obligation to provide a constitutionally adequate education, “the State need not have directly caused the deficiency to be obligated to remedy it under the Education Clause.” The Court decided that the plaintiffs must establish that de facto segregation is a substantial factor in causing their children to receive an inadequate education and sent the case back down to the trial court.

ELC now joins a legal team representing the plaintiffs that includes Dan Shulman of the Minneapolis firm Shulman Buske Reams PLLC, who has led the case since its inception, and Richard Landon of Lathrop GPM, also in Minneapolis. In addition to ELC, the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher has recently joined the plaintiffs’ legal team.

“Having served in advisory and supportive roles in this groundbreaking case for nearly a decade, ELC is honored to now join the brave plaintiffs and their legal team in preparation for trial,” said Robert Kim, ELC’s Executive Director. “We strongly believe, and expect to establish at trial, that tolerating school segregation is not only antithetical to the state’s obligation to provide a thorough and efficient education under Minnesota’s constitution, but also profoundly impacts the education and future of thousands of students throughout the Twin Cities.”

“The purpose of Minnesota’s Education Clause is to ensure that students receive the robust educational opportunities that they deserve and that will allow them to develop into responsible and productive citizens,” added ELC Senior Attorney Wendy Lecker. “For that to happen, it is essential that students from diverse backgrounds learn together and from each other. We are glad to be part of the effort to ensure this constitutional promise is realized.”  

Related Stories:

MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT: SCHOOL SEGREGATION CAN BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL WHETHER OR NOT THE STATE CAUSED IT

MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT URGED TO DECLARE DE FACTO SCHOOL SEGREGATION UNCONSTITUTIONAL

MINNESOTA HIGH COURT ALLOWS CLAIM OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL SEGREGATION TO MOVE FORWARD

ELC AND LEGAL SCHOLARS ARGUE SEGREGATION VIOLATES MINNESOTA’S RIGHT TO EDUCATION

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Press Contact:
Sharon Krengel
Director of Policy, Strategic Partnerships and Communications
skrengel@edlawcenter.org
973-624-1815, x240