Appeals Court Ordered To Re-Examine Ruling in Brown

By Mark Walsh

WASHINGTON--The U.S. Supreme Court last week set aside a 1989 appellate-court ruling that the Topeka, Kan., school system had not yet met its duty to desegregate more than 30 years after its central role in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The Justices ordered the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to re-examine its ruling in light of the High Court's recent school-desegregation rulings in cases from Oklahoma City and DeKalb County, Ga.

In those cases--Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell, decided from 1991, and Freeman v. Pitts, decided last month--the Court was widely viewed as making it easier for school districts to win relief from federal...