February 12, 2026
NEWARK – In an amicus curiae brief filed Tuesday, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, on behalf of Salvation and Social Justice (SandSJ), the League of Women Voters of New Jersey (LWVNJ), and the Religious Action Center of New Jersey of the Union for Reform Judaism (RAC-NJ), asked the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division to enter a judgment of state liability in the case of Latino Action Network et al. v. State of New Jersey et al., reversing the lower court’s decision.
Latino Action Network’s case argues that New Jersey is responsible for the racial segregation that exists across its school districts, due in large part to rules requiring students to enroll in their hometown schools.
New Jersey ranks sixth highest among all U.S. states for the segregation of Black students and seventh highest nationally for segregation of Latino students.
Amici’s brief argues that a “finding of liability is … the essential first step toward dismantling the segregation that denies Black and Latina/o students the full promise of public education.”
The brief points out that segregation in New Jersey schools is not the product of geography or “parental choice,” but the direct and foreseeable product of state created boundaries, policies and systems that have separated children by race, ethnicity and poverty and have been allowed to harden over generations.
For a detailed history of the case, visit here.
Quotes from Amici are below:
“New Jersey’s commitment to educating its Black and Brown students is hollow unless it includes an obligation to repair the harms of segregation New Jersey itself helped create,” said Micauri Vargas, Litigation Counsel at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. “Through deliberate policies and laws, New Jersey created one of the most segregated public school systems in the country, and only through accountability can the state fulfill the constitutional promise of equal and ‘thorough and efficient’ public education for Black and Latina/o students.”
“Public education is a bedrock of our democracy, yet the constitutional right to a ‘thorough and efficient education’ continues to be undermined by a state-created segregated school system,” said Jesse Burns, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey. “Fulfilling the promise of Brown v. Board of Ed. requires recognition of the state’s liability in creating one of the most segregated school systems in the country, followed by the dismantling of policies that have long tied educational opportunities and outcomes to race, wealth and zip code in our state.”
“The persistent patterns of segregation in New Jersey’s public schools are neither accidental nor benign,” said Racquel Romans-Henry, Director of Policy for Salvation and Social Justice. “They represent an unconstitutional and deeply moral failure that continues to deny Black students equal educational opportunities. This case is a necessary step toward dismantling the systemic barriers that have long undermined educational equity. It is imperative that the state fulfill its legal and ethical obligation to ensure that every child—regardless of their zip code—has access to a fair, high‑quality public education.”
“High-quality public education is an essential building block of civic participation,” said Sarah Blaine, Assistant Director of Organizing of RAC and Lead Organizer of RAC-NJ. “In New Jersey, we are fortunate to have a state constitution that prohibits ‘segregation in the public schools because of religious principles, race, color, ancestry or national origin.’ Segregation is everyone’s problem. In our polarized world, creating opportunities for children from different backgrounds to study and learn together is promising step forward in efforts to build a more inclusive multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy grounded in empathy and respect for different points of view.”
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