Milliken v. Bradley

In the view of some, busing represented the culmination of decades' worth of work toward ending de facto school segregation. As late as 1968, 14 years after the Court dealt a death blow to school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), only 10 percent of all black children in the South attended integrated schools. With busing, it was believed, the law could force a rapid acceleration in efforts toward integration.

There was a problem, however. Though public-opinion polls in the 1970s showed that most Americans favored the integration of the schools, most were opposed to court-ordered busing. Throughout the nation there were stories of violence in schools, and of rising tension brought on by this form of forced integration. Parents also opposed the idea of children being pulled out of schools where they were happy, and subjected to long bus rides to new schools. By the 1976 presidential elections, both Democrats--originally strong proponents of busing--and Republicans had adopted anti-busing planks in their party platforms. Although busing had its supporters, for instance in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, it was largely a dead issue.