North Carolina State Board of Education et al. v. Swann et al.

Decided April 20, 1971. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 498 · 402 U.S. 43 (1971) · Cited 250 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Green v. County School Board of New Kent County · 391 U.S. 430 (1968)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 · 551 U.S. 701 (2007)
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)
• City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co. · 488 U.S. 469 (1989)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 418 U.S. 717 (1974)
• United States v. Scotland Neck City Board of Education · 407 U.S. 484 (1972)
• Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education · 476 U.S. 267 (1986)
• Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Assn. · 443 U.S. 658 (1979)
• United States v. Paradise · 480 U.S. 149 (1987)
• Columbus Board of Education v. Penick · 443 U.S. 449 (1979)
• Missouri v. Jenkins · 495 U.S. 33 (1990)
• Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1 · 458 U.S. 457 (1982)
• Wright v. Council of Emporia · 407 U.S. 451 (1972)
• Hills v. Gautreaux · 425 U.S. 284 (1976)
• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College · 600 U.S. 181 (2023)
• Crawford v. Board of Ed. of Los Angeles · 458 U.S. 527 (1982)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Warren Earl Burger’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).