Filed Date: Jan. 28, 1992
Closed Date: 1997
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The school board of Piscataway, New Jersey needed to eliminate a teaching position. Under New Jersey state law, tenured teachers have to be laid off in reverse order of seniority. The newest tenured teachers, Sharon Taxman and Debra Williams, white and African-American respectively, had started working at the school on the same day. Williams was the only black teacher in her department, and 50% of the students were minorities. In the interest of maintaining racial diversity, the school board voted to lay off Taxman. Taxman complained to the EEOC, saying that the board had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Title VII gives the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) the authority to enforce Title VII against public employers, after the EEOC processes such charges. In 1992, DOJ filed suit in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, seeking injunctive and compensatory relief. The DOJ alleged that Piscataway's affirmative action plan constituted reverse discrimination, in violation of Title VII. Taxman intervened as a plaintiff as well.
The Board of Education defended by arguing that the affirmative action plan was valid because it served a valuable educational goal. On August 4, 1992, the District Court (Judge Maryanne Trump Barry) denied the defendant's motion to dismiss. 798 F. Supp. 1093 (D.N.J. 1992). On September 10, 1993, the District Court granted the DOJ's motion for partial summary judgment. U.S. v. Board of Educ. of Tp. of Piscataway, 832 F. Supp. 836 (D.N.J.1993). The court held that promoting racial diversity among teachers for the sake of education was an impermissible purpose for an affirmative action plan, and that Title VII does not permit this type of race-conscious plan. The court further concluded that even were the asserted purposes legally sufficient to justify the Board's plan, the plan would be unlawful because it unnecessarily trammels the rights of nonminorities.
Piscataway appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. After the start of the Clinton administration, the Department of Justice (which had filed the suit as a plaintiff) filed a brief switching sides, arguing that the district court had erred and that Piscataway's plan was lawful. The Court of Appeals eventually allowed the U.S. to simply withdraw from the case. On the merits, it agreed with the district court. Piscataway School Board v. Taxman, 91 F.3d 1547 (3d Cir. 1996). The school board sought review in the United States Supreme Court, which granted certiorari; the Supreme Court hearing was scheduled for January 1998, but civil rights groups, fearing that the case could lead to the prohibition of affirmative action, if the Supreme Court agreed with the Third Circuit, provided substantial money for the parties to settle the case out of court. Accordingly, the case was dismissed from the Supreme Court's docket, prior to the argument.
Summary Authors
Clearinghouse (11/12/2007)
Alito, Samuel A. Jr. (District of Columbia)
Barry, Maryanne Trump (New Jersey)
Becker, Edward Roy (Pennsylvania)
Cassell, Susan C. (New Jersey)
Chertoff, Michael (Pennsylvania)
Alito, Samuel A. Jr. (District of Columbia)
Barry, Maryanne Trump (New Jersey)
Becker, Edward Roy (Pennsylvania)
Cowen, Robert E. (New Jersey)
Greenberg, Morton Ira (New Jersey)
Lewis, Timothy K. (Pennsylvania)
Mansmann, Carol Los (Pennsylvania)
McKee, Theodore Alexander (Pennsylvania)
Nygaard, Richard Lowell (Pennsylvania)
Roth, Jane Richards (Delaware)
Sarokin, H. Lee (New Jersey)
Scirica, Anthony Joseph (Pennsylvania)
Sloviter, Dolores Korman (Pennsylvania)
Stapleton, Walter King (Delaware)
Last updated March 18, 2024, 3:10 a.m.
Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.State / Territory: New Jersey
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: Jan. 28, 1992
Closing Date: 1997
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
United States and a white school teacher
Plaintiff Type(s):
U.S. Dept of Justice plaintiff
Attorney Organizations:
U.S. Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF PISCATAWAY (Piscataway, Middlesex), City
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Title VII (including PDA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Order Duration: 1994 - 1994
Issues
Discrimination-area:
Discharge / Constructive Discharge / Layoff
Discrimination-basis:
Race: