Justice, William Wayne, 1920-2009

In the court case United States v. Texas, known by its docket number Civil Order 5281, resulted in the largest series of desegregation orders in legal history. In 1970, the ruling gave Chief Judge William Wayne Justice the authority to order the Texas Education Agency to assume responsibility for overseeing desegregation in Texas public schools and institutions. The case originated in the Johnson administration in the 1960s when the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare investigated allegations of discrimination in several small Texas school districts. Judge Justice used this case to issue a series of orders to end discrimination in public schools by means of specific orders, guidelines, and mandatory annual reviews.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit confirmed Justice’s ruling, but removed his authority to issue orders to districts that were or would be under the jurisdiction of other federal courts in Texas. Justice attempted to expand this order in 1982 to alleged discrimination against Mexican Americans in Gregory-Portland Independent School District. Enforcement of these orders became sporadic at best by the early 1990s.

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