LDF Files Amicus Brief Urging Equal Educational Opportunity in New Jersey Case Challenging Segregated Schools

Read a PDF of our statement here.

On Thursday, March 19, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed an amicus brief in the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in support of equal educational opportunity in Latino Action Network v. New Jersey, a case challenging the urgent and persistent problem of school segregation. In the brief, LDF highlights the troubling trend of resegregation in public schools across the United States and urges the court to take action to enforce state constitutional guarantees of equal education for students in New Jersey public schools.

The amicus brief underscores the disproportionate effects of school resegregation on Black students and other students of color. It also highlights the particularly stark pattern of segregation in the Northeast, where states like New Jersey have had, and continue to have, some of the country's most segregated schools despite their racially diverse populations. The brief further emphasizes that this segregation and the systemic inequities that come with it are driven in significant part by state action and inaction, including New Jersey's legacy of state-sponsored discrimination in housing and education, and policies that determine school district boundaries and student assignment in ways that reinforce racial and socioeconomic isolation.

"Nearly 72 years after Brown v. Board of Education declared that separate is inherently unequal, far too many students remain confined to segregated and under-resourced schools," said Kelly Gardner, Deputy Director of Litigation at LDF. "We urge the court to act swiftly to hold the State to its obligation to respect the constitutional guarantees that protect New Jersey public school students' rights to equal educational opportunity. Persistent segregation in New Jersey schools continues to harm students, depriving Black students and other students of color of equitable educational opportunities and preventing all students from realizing the benefits of learning in diverse classroom settings."

The brief also emphasizes the critical role of state courts in addressing educational segregation. Where state constitutions and laws provide strong guarantees of equal educational opportunity, courts have both the authority and responsibility to enforce those guarantees.

"Segregation in schools is persistent, but not inevitable, and absolutely can and must be challenged and remedied. State courts have an essential role in protecting students' constitutional and civil rights," said Katrina Feldkamp, Assistant Counsel at LDF. "The Court can help dismantle these systemic inequities and ensure that New Jersey students are provided with the equal education they are entitled to."

LDF has long advocated for equal educational opportunity in public schools. As the organization that spearheaded the groundbreaking litigation leading to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, LDF has fought for Black students to fairly access education for decades and continues to advocate for laws and policies at both the federal and state levels that support educational equity for all.

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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation's first civil rights legal organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957, though it was founded under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall while he was at the NAACP. LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) is a division of LDF that undertakes innovative research and houses LDF's archive. In all media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF (do not include NAACP) and refer to the Institute as LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute or TMI.