Harrisburg Coalition Against Ruining the Environment v. Volpe

The case illustrates how difficult it is to establish an intent to discriminate, which is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the State of Pennsylvania, and the City of Harrisburg began discussions concerning the construction of Interstate Route 81 and the Harrisburg River Relief Route through the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. These discussions eventually lead to the decision to construct the highways through a city park in Harrisburg. In 1971, following the decision, a group of citizens and an environmental group filed a lawsuit against the secretary of transportation, the state of Pennsylvania, and the city of Harrisburg in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs sought an injunction prohibiting the construction of the highways through Wildwood Park, a city park located in Harrisburg. The plaintiffs claimed that the proposed construction violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. They asserted that by closing down the park, the construction would deny African American citizens the same right to participate in recreational activities as afforded white citizens in other parts of the city. They also alleged that the defendants' decision to locate the construction through Wildwood Park did not meet the requirements of several federal statutes. Statutes cited included the Department of Transportation Act, the Federal Aid Highway Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. After holding hearings on the issues, Judge William Nealon rejected the plaintiffs' claim that the proposed construction discriminated against African American citizens. However, he also concluded that the secretary of transportation had failed to comply with the Department of Transportation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.