Piscataway Township Board of Education v. Taxman

The case of Board of Education of Picataway v. Sharon Taxman was on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court when a coalition of civil rights groups raised the money to settle the case. The civil rights leaders and the board of education agreed that defeat in the High Court--which seemed likely--would represent a major blow to the cause of affirmative action. Citing the legal dictum that "bad cases make bad law," they preferred to fight the battle over racial preferences in hiring at another time, over a different set of circumstances.