Civil Rights Groups Back NCLB Law in Suit

Connecticut NAACP files to intervene on side of Bush administration.

Civil rights groups are seeking to join the federal government in defending the No Child Left Behind Act from a legal challenge by Connecticut, potentially giving the Bush administration important, if unlikely, new allies in arguing for the law.

The Connecticut NAACP, on behalf of three minority students in high-poverty schools, filed papers in federal court in New Haven, Conn., on Jan. 30, asking the judge in the Connecticut v. Spellings case to allow the group to intervene on the side of the U.S. Department of Education.

Also providing legal support for the effort are lawyers from three national groups: the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, both based in Washington; and the national office of...