On August 23, 2021, Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed a motion to dismiss IntegrateNYC v. State of New York. The plaintiffs sued the city and state, claiming New York City’s specialized high schools are systemically racist.
The plaintiffs rely on a “disparate impact” theory, which says policies are unlawful if they lead to different results for different racial groups, even without intent to discriminate. PDE argued that the race-balancing needed to fix those differences could itself violate the Equal Protection Clause and other bans on intentional racial discrimination. PDE asked the court to dismiss the plaintiffs’ amended complaint in full.
Read the full motion below:
