Where Have All the Lawyers Gone?

I hope your summer is going well.  In my last blog, written before taking a summer hiatus, I talked about Sheff v. O'Neill, a desegregation case in Connecticut, decided in 1996.  In that case, the Connecticut court ruled that all segregation, regardless of its cause, violates the state constitution, and it imposed on Hartford an affirmative obligation to integrate schools in the Hartford metropolitan region.  I asked why that ruling has largely been confined to Hartford, given that the state constitution applies across the entire state.

Here, I would like to broaden the inquiry and ask why Sheff hasn't sparked similar desegregation lawsuits in other states.  To appreciate the question, it is important to understand some related history involving school finance litigation....

Read more at Education Week.