San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez
Argued October 12, 1972
Decided March 21, 1973
Full case nameSan Antonio Independent School District, et al. v. Demetrio P. Rodriguez, et al.
Citations411 U.S. 1 (more)
93 S. Ct. 1278; 36 L. Ed. 2d 16; 1973 U.S. LEXIS 91
Case history
PriorJudgment for plaintiffs, 337 F. Supp. 280 W.D. Tex. (1971); probable jurisdiction noted, 406 U.S. 966 (1972).
SubsequentRehearing denied, 411 U.S. 959 (1973).
Holding
Reliance on property taxes to fund public schools does not violate the Equal Protection Clause even if it causes inter-district expenditure disparities. Absolute equality of education funding is not required and a state system that encourages local control over schools bears a rational relationship to a legitimate state interest. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr.
Potter Stewart · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinions
MajorityPowell, joined by Burger, Stewart, Blackmun, Rehnquist
ConcurrenceStewart
DissentBrennan
DissentWhite, joined by Douglas, Brennan
DissentMarshall, joined by Douglas
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that San Antonio Independent School District's financing system, which was based on local property taxes, was not a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause.[1]

The majority opinion, reversing the District Court, stated that the appellees did not sufficiently prove a textual basis, within the U.S. Constitution, supporting the principle that education is a fundamental right. Urging that the school financing system led to wealth-based discrimination, the plaintiffs had argued that the fundamental right to education should be applied to the States, through the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court found that there was no such fundamental right and that the unequal school financing system was not subject to strict scrutiny.

  1. ^ San Antonio Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973).

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