Several years after civil rights groups sued New Jersey over racial segregation in public schools, attorneys returned to court Thursday to debate whether the state’s own enrollment data is enough to establish a constitutional violation.
During oral arguments before a three-judge appeals court panel in Trenton, attorneys representing the plaintiffs urged the judges to overturn a 2023 ruling that acknowledged persistent racial segregation in New Jersey’s schools, but stopped short of declaring it unconstitutional.
The state countered that enrollment numbers alone cannot establish a constitutional violation, and called for a more detailed look at individual districts.
The hearing was the latest development in a landmark lawsuit that could eventually change how New Jersey students attend public school. The case could have far-reaching implications for Newark and neighboring Essex County municipalities, where predominantly Black and Latino school districts sit near wealthier, majority-white suburban districts. Children who were in kindergarten when the lawsuit began are now in ninth grade.