A federal appeals court overturned a landmark ruling that affirmed the right to an education. Education is necessary for full citizenship, so voters can be fully informed. However the appeals court did not agree.
In April, a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a landmark decision in the Detroit literacy case, Gary B. v. Whitmer, holding that there is a “fundamental right to a basic minimum education” under the U.S. Constitution. The two-to-one decision of the three-judge panel defined the right in terms of “access to literacy.”
However, in May, the full complement of 6th Circuit judges moved to review the case “en banc”, and eradicated the decision of the three judge panel. In the meantime, the Plaintiffs had settled the case with Governor Whitmer, the main defendant. Accordingly, they informed the Court of the settlement and said that the case was now moot and should be dismissed. Certain other defendants and the legislative leaders sought to continue the case, but earlier this week, the Sixth Circuit issued a ruling that accepted the plaintiffs’ position and dismissed the case. The net effect of the complicated history of the Gary B appeal is that although two U.S. Court of Appeals judges issued a landmark ruling holding for the first time that there is a limited right to education under the U.S. Constitution, that decision is now a legal nullity. However, as Mark Rosenbaum, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, put it, “The decision was vacated but the words will never disappear.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The court prefers illiteracy to informed citizenship. The judges must love Trump. Trump is not a reader. He could not sign anything with his bold black Sharpie pen if he were not surrounded by lawyers of certain stripe. Consider Bill Barr who keeps telling Trump he can ignor Congress and do anything he wants because the Consitution gives him executive power.
The war against the public sector, labor unions, medical care for everyone, and public schools is not going to go away anytime soon. There will be other court cases brought by both sides in this war between the wealthy few vs the vast majority of working Americans.
Each court case will be another battle. Other battles are being fought in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress.
Getting rid of Trumpty Dumpty’s White House administration in November, which includes William Barr the Bloated Bad-Tempered Bear and Betsy the Brutal, is another battle.
The district court decision still stands, though.
I understand this as applying only to this case, which was settled. And therefore has no holding on other cases/issues. Is that correct?
Basically. It’s a district court decision in the Eastern District of Michigan. So it has no precedential value, i.e. there are no lower courts that would be bound to follow the case’s holding. It has what they call “persuasive value” in that plaintiffs in other proceedings will cite the case argue it was correct and well-reasoned and should be followed. But no binding effect on other cases or courts.
Thank you!
Nevertheless, it’s a win for McConnell’s judges, racist Trumpers, and the haters of democracy across the land. The neo-liberals who are behind that decision, if they are not the same people as the voter-suppressors in the south, are for sure, their political bedfellows. CBK
Unfortunately, “access to literacy” may be interpreted many different ways, and it says nothing about quality.
something like “ketchup is a vegetable” coming their way
Were “Trump” judges involved in either decision?
Good question? I wonder if there is a site and/or database that lists all of the judges appointed by Trump and approved by Moscow Mitch’s GOP controlled Senate.
Lloyd I’d like to see that list of McConnell-Trumpist judges also. But the question of “Trump Judges” can be answered two ways:
Who paved their way to the bench?
What are the basics of their ideology?
#2 above is “Trumpist” and on the side of “spineless Republican low-lifers” if they fail to understand or to support the logos of this idea:
To maintain their vibrancy and even their ongoing survival, democracies need literate people, and even ongoing education.
(Duh) The point is also germane to the whole idea of “freedom of the press.” What good is THAT if you cannot read? But then again, THAT’s why the #2 above ideologues don’t support it. CBK
WIki has a list of federal judges appointed by Trump. Trump doesn’t have many or any friends and the only thing he pays attention to is his own name behind spoken or written.
These names for these judges had to come from people like Moscow Mitch and Betsy the Brutal. Trump made deals. He’d approve their judges if people like MM and BB did what he wanted like not stopping him when he fired all those inspector generals and appointed himself to decide who gets $500 billion in federal pandemic money.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Donald_Trump
This is a sure bet. Trump is using that $500 billion federal pandemic money to buy corporate supporters that promise to help him win the election no matter what it takes so Trump can take over the country.
Lloyd Sounds like just another resonance with WWII Germany to me. CK
And, federal judges can be impeached.
Article III judges can be removed from office only through impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate.
https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/about-federal-judges
The November election is probably the most important election in US History. Vote the Republican majority out of the US Senate, take the White House away from Trump, and vote more republicans out of state legislatures and governor’s mansions.
With Democrats controlling all three branches of government, imagine all the investigations into the Trump administration that could lead to the many of Trump’s appointed judges being impeached.
On that note, I want to see Moscow Mitch voted out, too.
Lloyd Yes . . . Mitch is like a core cancer on the body politic. CBK
Why the heck do we require kids to go to school if they don’t have to acquire even the basic fundamentals? I would like a lawyer to explain the rationale behind this decision to us. Unless they were claiming that the courts have no right to be ruling in these cases, they must have a very interesting idea of what schooling is supposed to be.
speduktr That’s why the ruling is so important–it’s the lynch-pin that holds together the intimate relationship between our rights (and the RIGHT to an education of its citizens) in a democracy, and the LAWS and statues that mandate and require it.
They’ve opened the statutory door to a neo-liberal playground where the bullies have all the power. CBK
Well, I will try. I was a lawyer long ago, before quitting to become a teacher.
I believe the sua sponte (on its own motion) decision of the full Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case had the effect of automatically vacating the decision of the three-judge panel, which sided for the plaintiffs. The full Appeals Court avoided having to decide whether the three-judge panel got it right, dismissing the case as moot, because the parties had settled.
I can think of several reasons why a judge might side with the defendants, especially if the judge found no evidence that the plaintiffs had been victims of intentional discrimination.
But I agree with you. It seems obvious to me that under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, every child has a right to a basic education, however “basic” may be defined.
In Utah, school attendance is not mandatory. If you can believe it.
Why is that? I suspect the answer is not as simple as that first knee jerk, “You’re kidding me!” that I felt.
Who needs an education rights when you have protected rights to carry an AK-47, your place of worship is funded to teach “science” and the schools you do have can teach the South won the war?
OMG!
The result could have been worse. Instead of merely vacating the decision of the three-judge appellate panel, the full Sixth Circuit could have overturned it, ruling that there is no Constitutional right to a basic minimum education.
One should not expect the current Supreme Court, dominated by conservatives and self-styled “originalists” (as if the founders’ intent were always discernible or as if the founders could possibly have imagined the cases and controversies of the 21st century) to be open to the sort of substantive due process argument made by the plaintiffs. For this reason, I hope a case like this does not reach the current Court. The result could be disastrous.
A similar, and perhaps stronger case was heard in December in Rhode Island, Read summary here http://www.cookvraimondo.info/ decison any day in the District Court – regardless of the decision it will move to the Appeals Court next term …. very experienced legal team