Garrity, W. Arthur (Wendell Arthur), 1920-1999

Morgan v. Hennigan, 379 F. Supp. 410 (1974), commonly known as the Boston Schools Case, was a complex and legally entangled class action suit against the state of Massachusetts and the Boston School Committee. On March 15, 1972, the plaintiffs filed a complaint with the First District Court of Massachusetts, charging the state and Boston officials with maintaining a segregated school system that denied black students equal educational opportunities. After preliminary hearings the case went to trial before Federal District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. On June 21, 1974, Judge Garrity filed a 152-page opinion which ruled that the School Committee has "intentionally brought about and maintained racial segregation" in the Boston public schools. By January 1975, the School Committee had failed to present an adequate desegregation plan to the court. The court assumed an active role in the formulation of the desegregation remedy and began to oversee implementation of court-ordered desegregation in the Bos.