U.S. Judge Upholds Expulsions in Decatur

By Alan Richard

A federal judge last week squelched the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson's attempt to win reinstatement for six black high school students expelled after a well-publicized brawl at a football game in Decatur, Ill.

U.S. District Judge Michael McCuskey ruled that courts have little business interfering with local school decisions on student conduct. He also ruled that the students had shown no evidence that school officials discriminated against them based on race.

The judge gave no opinion in his Jan. 11 ruling on the Decatur school board's original punishment: two years'...