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In September 2016, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of students in Detroit. The lawsuit sought to establish literacy as a right protected by the US Consitution - the first federal civil rights lawsuit in history to try to secure access to literacy as a right. THREAD
One of the attorneys, Mark Rosenbaum of @PublicCounsel, said at the time: "Our ask in our suit is modest – institute evidence-based literacy instruction in our schools, provide the teachers, training and tools necessary to do so." 2/14
He added: "State government has no higher responsibility than to ensure that its system for public education deliver to every child the capacity to become literate – to read, write, and comprehend in order to have a shot at the American dream." 3/14
He said: "Access to literacy is our society’s essential precondition for social mobility and civic participation in a democracy." The lawsuit was brought on behalf of kids in schools where vast majority were below proficiency in reading. 100% of 6th graders at one school. 4/14
"I have friends who can’t read, but it’s not because they aren’t smart, it’s because the State has failed them,” said student Jamarria Hall. The legal complaint said: "Like all children, Plaintiffs desperately want to learn and succeed." https://www.detroit-accesstoliteracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-09-13-Complaint.pdf 5/14
"They depend on the promise of education to improve their lives. But... cannot take for granted that their public schools will serve as engines of democracy and social mobility, or even adequately provide the most fundamental elements of literacy." https://www.detroit-accesstoliteracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-09-13-Complaint.pdf 6/14
In 2018, the lawsuit was dismissed. http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/michigan/files/opinion_-_gary_b_vs_richard_snyder__16-13292.pdf “It would be a great breakthrough to have the federal courts recognize education as a fundamental right,” observed a legal expert. “But I see no chance of that happening in my lifetime.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/04/education/detroit-public-schools-education.html 7/14
The plaintiffs appealed. And yesterday, they won, reviving the case, which could end up in the US Supreme Court. Here's the decision: https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/004/4370-1.pdf 8/14
The court said: "Plaintiffs contend that access to literary, as opposed
to other educational achievements, is a gateway milestone, one that unlocks the basic exercise of other fundamental rights, including the possibility of political participation." 9/14
to other educational achievements, is a gateway milestone, one that unlocks the basic exercise of other fundamental rights, including the possibility of political participation." 9/14
"While the Supreme Court has repeatedly discussed this issue, it has never decided it, and the question of whether such a right exists remains open. After employing the reasoning of these Supreme Court cases and applying the Court’s substantive due process framework..." 10/14
Here's the crux of the decision: "We recognize that the Constitution provides a fundamental right to a basic minimum education." https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/004/4370-1.pdf 11/14
The decision continued: "Access to a foundational level of literacy—provided through public education—has an extensive historical legacy and is so central to our political and social system as to be 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.'" https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/004/4370-1.pdf 12/14
"Access to literacy has long been viewed as a key to political power. Withholding that key, slaveholders and segregationists used the deprivation of education as a weapon, preventing African Americans from obtaining... liberty and equality." https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/004/4370-1.pdf 13/14
Reacting to the decision, Detroit resident Helen Moore told the @MichiganAdvance: "It’s been a long time coming and finally, we may see justice for our Black and Brown children.” https://www.michiganadvance.com/2020/04/23/in-historic-legal-decision-court-rules-education-is-a-fundamental-right/ END
