The resegregation of American schools got a boost from a federal judge in Alabama, who ruled that a mostly white city was allowed to secede from a school district that was desegregated, even though she acknowledged that the motive was to restore racial segregation.

A federal judge’s ruling this week that allows a predominantly white Alabama city to separate from its more diverse school district is stoking new debate about the fate of desegregation initiatives after decades of efforts to promote racial balance in public education.

Judge Madeline Haikala of the U.S. District Court in Birmingham ruled that the city of Gardendale’s effort to break away was motivated by race and sent messages of racial inferiority and exclusion that “assail the dignity of black schoolchildren.”

She also found that Gardendale failed to meet its legal burden to prove that its separation would not hinder desegregation in Jefferson County, which has been struggling to integrate its schools since black parents first sued for an equal education for their children in the 1960s.

Still, Haikala ruled Monday that Gardendale may move forward with the secession, basing her decision in part on sympathy for some parents who want local control over schools and in part on concern for black students caught in the middle. The judge wrote that she feared they would bear the blame if she blocked the city’s bid.

U.W. Clemon, who represents black plaintiffs in the case, said the ruling undermines more than half a century of integration efforts. “If this decision stands, it will have a tremendous adverse impact,” Clemon said.

An Alabama town voted to get its own school district. This is why opponents call it segregation. Play Video1:26
Gardendale, a small suburb of Birmingham, Ala., has been on a crusade for several years to create an independent school system. This is why the city’s efforts have civil rights and local officials concerned about segregation. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)
Other majority-white communities in Jefferson County are already considering setting up their own school systems, said Clemon, who is a retired federal judge.

Haikala’s ruling says to them that “if Gardendale can do it, with its history of racism . . . then any other city would have the right to do what Gardendale has done,” Clemon said.

The Justice Department under Obama opposed Gardendale’s effort to secede from the district. The Trump Justice Department has thus far had no comment. Wonder what Attorney General Sessions will say. Wonder what the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will say.

Has the Great Retreat begun?