Overview
- The U.S. Department of Justice and the Bossier Parish School Board filed a joint stipulation on Thursday asking a federal judge to dismiss the roughly 1964 desegregation lawsuit with prejudice.
- The filing says only the United States and the school board remain as active parties and cites the Fifth Circuit’s recent Concordia decision to argue the case must be dismissed when remaining parties agree.
- Attorneys for the original plaintiffs told the court the parent plaintiffs have died and the individuals who were minors at filing cannot be located, and the joint filing says their signatures are not required.
- The dismissal request is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana and has been publicly praised by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Bossier Superintendent Jason Rowland as a return of local control.
- The move follows a pattern in Louisiana of ending long-running consent decrees and raises concerns from civil rights advocates that removing court supervision will eliminate a legal tool used to enforce remedies for racial disparities.