Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell

Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell (1991) was a Supreme Court case about desegregation. The Court ruled that once a court-mandated desegregation plan has been implemented and significant progress made, a school district can be released from oversight if it can show it’s committed to maintaining integration voluntarily. Essentially, the Court decided that courts shouldn’t supervise schools forever; instead, districts can regain control once they’ve made sufficient efforts to eliminate segregation, even if some issues remain, as long as they are on a path to sustained desegregation.