Judge Blocks Effort to Close 1960s School Desegregation Case, Setting Test for Federal Push

A federal judge in Louisiana has pushed back against a federal effort to rapidly end decades-old school desegregation orders, refusing to dismiss a case that dates back to 1965.

The dispute centers on Concordia Parish in central Louisiana. State officials and the U.S. Department of Justice jointly sought to terminate the long-standing desegregation lawsuit, arguing the case is outdated and no longer necessary. The filing was not signed by the families who originally brought the suit in the 1960s.

U.S. District Judge Dee Drell rejected the joint request on Nov. 19, saying the court has a duty to consider broader public-policy implications before ending court supervision of public schools. Instead of granting the dismissal, Drell offered Concordia Parish the customary alternative: a hearing at which the district must demonstrate it has fully dismantled any state-sponsored racial segregation — the established legal path for ending such oversight.

“At the heart of this case is public policy and the protection of others, and the court has been tasked with ensuring the resolution of this matter in accordance with long established legal precedent,” Judge Drell wrote.

The Concordia decision has become an early test of a broader federal campaign to wind down multiple desegregation decrees from the Civil Rights era. In recent months the Justice Department, which for decades defended enforcement of these orders, has signaled support for dismissing some long-running cases. Officials argue many of the decrees amount to federal overreach into local school governance and are no longer needed.

Critics — including some community members and former plaintiffs — counter that remaining court orders still play an important role in addressing educational disparities at predominantly Black schools in the district. They say oversight has helped maintain protections and resources that could otherwise be lost if a case is closed without careful review.

The state and the Concordia Parish school board filed an appeal of Drell’s ruling. Their motion asks an appellate court to permit dismissal without the hearing the judge ordered. The district and state have not provided an immediate comment on the appeal.

The Justice Department has used similar tactics elsewhere in Louisiana, seeking to lift orders in other districts where judges have died or oversight has been long dormant. Dozens of 1960s desegregation cases remain in effect across Louisiana and other Southern states; some are actively litigated, while others have been inactive for years.

The outcome of the Concordia appeal could shape how easily other long-running desegregation orders are ended and whether courts will require districts to prove they have achieved "unitary" status — a legal standard showing that state-sponsored segregation has been fully dismantled — before dismissal.