A federal judge has dismissed a 1967 school desegregation case involving the DeSoto Parish School Board, marking the second such closure in Louisiana in recent months as state and federal officials push to end long-standing court orders tied to civil rights-era litigation.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. signed an order granting a joint motion from Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, the U.S. Department of Justice, and DeSoto Parish officials to end federal supervision of the northwest Louisiana district’s compliance with a consent decree first imposed more than 55 years ago. The original lawsuit, brought by the Justice Department, charged the district with maintaining segregated schools long after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawed racially separate public education. Under the 1970 decree, the district was required to eliminate vestiges of segregation and file regular reports on student demographics and district policies.
Attorney General Murrill framed the dismissal as a restoration of local control, saying the order “forces you to be racially conscious and take race into account for things like teacher and student assignments, among other things,” and noting that there have been no disputes among the parties in over a decade. The move follows a similar dismissal last year of a 1966 desegregation case in Plaquemines Parish.
State and federal officials argue that these long-running orders have become outdated and place unnecessary burdens on local school boards, requiring court approval for policy changes such as new school construction, attendance boundary adjustments, or other major decisions. They contend that the districts in question have long since stopped discriminatory practices and should no longer be subject to federal supervision.
Civil rights advocates and educational equity organizations counter that the legacy of enforced segregation has enduring effects that aren’t erased simply by removing court oversight. They point to ongoing racial disparities in school funding, facility quality, access to advanced courses, and disciplinary practices as evidence that structural inequities remain pervasive in many Louisiana districts.
Across the South, more than 120 school systems remain under some form of desegregation order; Louisiana has around a dozen such cases still active or under negotiation. In some jurisdictions, such as Concordia Parish in the state’s River Parishes region, federal judges have refused to dismiss orders without evidence that segregation has been fully eliminated, citing persistent racial divides between schools and unequal conditions.
In Concordia, for example, Ferriday High School — predominantly Black — sits in aging facilities surrounded by barbed wire, while nearby Vidalia High — majority white — has newer buildings and amenities, illustrating stark disparities that civil rights groups say court supervision helps address.
Public education advocates say the current trajectory raises questions about how districts statewide will address inequality in the absence of federal oversight. In urban centers like Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where school segregation and resource gaps have long been a subject of policy debates and litigation, the removal of desegregation mandates could limit tools available to challenge discriminatory practices. Without mandated reporting and judicial review, families and advocacy groups may find fewer avenues for recourse when confronting unequal conditions.
Supporters of ending the orders argue that modern civil rights law, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, still provides avenues for addressing discrimination, and that local control can spur innovation and responsiveness to community needs. Critics worry, however, that rollback of long-standing oversight signals a retreat from enforcement mechanisms that historically helped integrate schools and promote equity.
As Louisiana prepares to engage with remaining desegregation cases, the debate over how best to redress the legacy of segregation — and what role federal courts should continue to play — is likely to intensify, particularly in regions where racial disparities in education outcomes and resources remain pronounced.