ACLU-NJ Files Amicus Brief in Latino Action Network v. State of New Jersey

The ACLU of New Jersey today filed an amicus brief before the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in Latino Action Network v. State of New Jersey, a case that impacts racial justice and students’ rights.

It’s been well documented that students throughout New Jersey attend racially segregated schools. In 2018, the plaintiffs filed suit seeking a ruling that the state’s failure to desegregate its schools violates the New Jersey constitution. In 2023, the trial court denied their motion for summary judgment, declining to deem New Jersey’s segregated public school system unconstitutional. The ACLU-NJ has filed an amicus brief to address flawed conclusions in the trial court’s decision.

These include the trial court’s determination that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate unconstitutionality across all school districts. This requirement reflects a misunderstanding of the claims and the applicable law. Systemic constitutional violations may turn on proof that certain injuries are representative of structural inadequacies and do not require evidence that every component of the system is independently unconstitutional.

In this case, plaintiffs proved what the law requires: that profound inter-district racial segregation exists among New Jersey schools; that these conditions are pervasive, interconnected, and the foreseeable result of statewide policy choices; and that only state-level actors have the power to remedy them. The ACLU-NJ brief argues that in demanding proof of segregation in every district, the trial court imposed a standard untethered from precedent and hostile to constitutional enforcement.

“New Jersey’s shameful history and present landscape of residential segregation have led to an intolerable and unconstitutional system of school segregation throughout the state, with young people bearing the brunt of the harms,” said ACLU-NJ Legal Director Jeanne LoCicero. “It’s crucial that we support the plaintiffs in this case, who are fighting for the equality and dignity of all students in our state, especially those within communities that have historically been marginalized and under-resourced.”

“In Brown v. Board, the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that segregation is 'inherently unequal.' Today, segregated schools are still unequal and still denying students adequate educational opportunities,” said Brown’s Promise Chief Legal Counsel GeDá Jones Herbert. “New Jersey’s own constitution expressly prohibits segregation in schools, yet more than 20 school districts across the state are intensely segregated and even more are segregated. This is patently unconstitutional. All students deserve access to well-resourced, integrated schools that can prepare them for post-secondary success in college or a career of their choice as well as engaged civic participants.”

The ACLU-NJ appears alongside co-amici Brown’s Promise and Georgetown Law’s Racial Equity in Education Law and Policy Clinic.