Which Supreme Court case upheld the use of court-ordered busing to desegregate Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in 1971?

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education upheld court-ordered busing to desegregate Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in 1971.

The case arose from North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, where residential patterns and past official policies had produced heavily segregated schools. A federal district court ordered a comprehensive desegregation plan that used student assignment and transportation across the system.

The Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on April 20, 1971. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote that federal courts could use busing and other remedies when necessary to dismantle a dual school system created by official segregation.

Swann became one of the most important school-desegregation rulings after Brown. It did not establish unlimited authority to redraw every school district’s boundaries; later cases placed limits on remedies involving multiple independent districts.