Litigation Timeline
Adapted with permission from Glenn M. Linden, Desegregating Schools in Dallas: Four Decades in the Federal Courts 224-31 (1995).
10/06/1970 Tasby v. Estes filed
07/17/1971 Judge William Taylor hears the case and declares the existence of a dual school system in Dallas
08/02/1971 Judge Taylor issues desegregation ruling involving high school busing
08/21/1971 Taylor’s decision appealed by Plaintiffs; portions stayed
09/07/1971 Busing begins
1971-75 Taylor’s decision remains with the Fifth Circuit
January 1974 Creation of Dallas Alliance
06/05/1974 Judge Sarah Hughes finds institutional racism by DISD
07/23/1975 Fifth Circuit reverses portions of Judge Taylor’s desegregation ruling
Aug.-Jan. 1976 Taylor holds hearings to determine successful desegregation plan
October 1975 Dallas Alliance establishes desegregation plan
03/10/1976 Taylor issues desegregation order based on Dallas Alliance plan
Spring 1976 NAACP appeals Taylor’s order
Summer 1976 Fifth Circuit denies NAACP appeal
08/25/1976 DISD schools open under desegregation order
01/07/1977 NAACP appeals Taylor’s order
04/24/1978 Taylor’s order partially reversed
August 1978 DISD appeals Fifth Circuit ruling to United States Supreme Court
Fall 1978 Linus Wright becomes superintendent of DISD
02/21/1979 United States Supreme Court grants certiorari
10/28/1979 Oral Arguments before Supreme Court
01/21/1980 Supreme Court remands to Fifth Circuit
01/22/1981 Black Caucus to Maximize Education joins suit
03/21/1981 Judge Taylor steps down
03/23/1981 Judge Barefoot Sanders assigned to Tasby litigation
April 1981 Hearings on the formulation of new student assignment plan
08/03/1981 Sanders issues desegregation order
12/21/1981 Sanders issues second desegregation order
02/01/1982 Final desegregation order
02/09/1982 DISD appeals order
08/11/1982 Sanders’s order affirmed
08/18/1982 DISD drops desegregation fight
04/30/1984 Creation of South Dallas Education Centers
June 1984 Black Coalition appeals Sanders’s order
12/19/1984 Sanders requests feasibility studies with regards to West Dallas Educational Centers
04/23/1985 Sanders rejects plan to cut back on busing
09/20/1985 Fifth Circuit upholds Sanders’s order creating South Dallas Education Centers
04/08/1986 Sanders orders creation of West Dallas education centers
09/05/1986 Sanders orders DISD to make diligent efforts to recruit black and Hispanic teachers according to a recruiting plan
05/02/1989 DISD seeks unitary status
08/22/1989 Sanders dismisses DISD’s motion for unitary status and prohibits further appeals on the matter until 01/15/1990
12/17/1993 DISD moves for declaration that it is desegregated
05/9-17/1994 Hearings with regards to DISD’s motion
07/26/1994 Sanders declares DISD desegregated
09/01/1994 Plaintiffs do not appeal
06/05, 23/2003 Sanders grants DISD’s motion to dismiss, stating “the segregation prohibited by the United States Constitution, the United States Supreme Court and federal statutes no longer exists in the DISD.”