Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education
476 U.S. 267 (1986)
by
Martin Doehl

Facts of the Case:

The Jackson School District made a bargaining agreement with the teachers, which  contained two major parts: teachers with the most seniority would not be laid off and the school was not to lay off a percentage of minority personnel that exceeded the percentage of minority personnel employed. When the high school was forced to lay-off a certain number of teachers, it laid-off white teachers with seniority while keeping black teachers with less seniority. The reason for this action was that the high school was attended by black students, and the heightened ratio of black teachers should serve as role models for them. Wendy Wygant, a laid off teacher, sued the Jackson School Board in the district court. As the district court did not see any violation of law, the case went to court of appeals, which affirmed the decision. Afterwards the case went in front of the Supreme Court.

Decision of the Supreme Court:

With a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wendy Wygant and decided, that the action taken by the Jackson Board of Education was violating the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause.

Basis of Decision:

The court decided, that the case violated the Equal Protection Clause, because it favored race and did not give equal opportunities to whites and blacks. It also said, that even though white teachers were laid off, the percentage of minority students still exceeded the percentage of minority teachers employed. In addition it said, that the loss of an existing job is worse than the denial of future employment, which favored the laid-off personnel.