• By Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D. • IDRA Newsletter • August 2024 • 
The latest U.S. Supreme Court term has been one of the most consequential in recent history, particularly for the future of civil rights, the fair and just division of responsibility in the federal government, and the health of our democracy.
With a series of rulings that have redefined the boundaries of federal authority and the protection of individual rights, the court’s decisions raise serious concerns among advocates of historically marginalized communities.
For example, the Supreme Court sanctioned racial gerrymandering by states (Alexander v. SC NAACP; LDF, 2024a), allowed the federal government to deport and remove non-citizen spouses (Dept of State v. Muñoz; NIJC, 2024), and criminalized homelessness by allowing municipalities to impose penalties on people who have no private place to sleep (City of Grants Pass v. Johnson; AFJ, 2024).
These cases demonstrate ongoing and significant backlash to advances in social justice and progress in this country, including threats to equal and equitable public education.
From the breakdown of the separation of church and state to the dismantling of affirmative action, the current court’s rulings have often tilted the balance away from protections that have long been considered fundamental to ensuring equity and justice in U.S. society (IDRA, 2022; 2023).
Among the many concerning decisions issued this term, the court handed down yet another seismic reversal of decades-old precedent in the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, discussed below.
“The Loper Bright decision is one of many cases that we have seen in the courts seeking to roll back civil and human rights, including the right of all children to access a high-quality public education that values and affirms every child.”
Background on the Loper Bright Decision
Loper Bright concerned a challenge to the “Chevron doctrine,” a legal principle established by the Supreme Court in 1984. It required courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes as long as the agencies’ interpretations were reasonable. This deference recognized the expertise of agencies like the U.S. Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in implementing complex statutory frameworks.
Loper Bright originated when commercial fishing companies, including Loper Bright Enterprises, objected to a regulation set by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The regulation required fishing vessels to pay for federal observers to monitor compliance with environmental laws.
At first glance, it may seem nonsensical for education justice advocates to be concerned about a fishing regulation. But, the Supreme Court’s decision effectively dismantled the Chevron doctrine, empowering courts to independently interpret statutory ambiguities without necessarily deferring to the interpretations of expert agencies. This shift fundamentally changes the landscape for federal regulation and oversight, including in education and civil rights.
Potential Impact on Education and Civil Rights
The elimination of Chevron deference likely will lead to an increase in legal challenges against U.S. Department of Education regulations and guidance, particularly those related to civil rights protections under Title IX, Title VI and federal disability laws.
Without the presumption of agency expertise, courts may be more inclined to scrutinize and potentially overturn regulations, creating uncertainty for schools and districts seeking to navigate compliance.
The decision likely will result in a patchwork of judicial interpretations across different jurisdictions, leading to inconsistent application of federal education laws. This could exacerbate disparities in students’ educational opportunities and outcomes as states and districts manage varying legal standards.
In addition, the decision could lead to a more cautious approach by agencies in issuing new regulations, slowing down progress in addressing the needs of systemically marginalized students.
Civil rights advocates are rightfully concerned that the Loper Bright decision will weaken the federal government’s enforcement of protections against discrimination in education. By reducing the deference to agency interpretations of civil rights statutes, the decision may make it more difficult to uphold and expand protections for marginalized groups, particularly students of color, emergent bilingual students, and LGBTQ+ students.
Unfortunately, students and families are already experiencing the harmful impacts of the decision.
In one school district, Carroll ISD in Southlake, Texas, students, families and community advocates successfully advanced an administrative complaint with OCR challenging the district’s failure to address systemic discrimination against Black students, other students of color and LGBTQ+ students (LDF, 2022a). The complaint described horrific and unacceptable instances of the school forcing students to endure racial and gender-based harassment.
Black students in the district described being referred to with racial slurs, including the “N-word,” and called names such as “porch monkey” and “the help.” Other students described being subjected to harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation, being called offensive, anti-LGBTQ+ slurs and subjected to bullying and physical violence (LDF, 2022b).
After a protracted investigation, OCR found students’ claims of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic harassment credible as violations of federal civil rights laws and invited district officials to negotiate a resolution (Richmon, 2024). Southlake community members urged the school district to negotiate in good faith to resolve the issues (LDF, 2024b).
Shortly after the Loper Bright ruling, however, school district leaders issued a statement refusing to address the findings of discrimination and harassment. The district cited, among three other factors, the Supreme Court’s decision as justification to question “the ability of OCR to bring enforcement actions based on its interpretations” (Carroll ISD, 2024).
This claim is extremely troubling, not only for the students and families in Southlake who continue to endure a discriminatory learning environment but also for thousands of students and families across the nation who are counting on OCR to address similar claims in their communities (Duggins-Clay & Lyons, 2024).
OCR received nearly 20,000 complaints in 2023 – the highest number in the agency’s history. It observed an 187-increase in the number of complaints since 2008 (Lhamon, 2024; Leadership Conference, 2024).
The Loper Bright decision is one of many cases that we have seen in the courts seeking to roll back civil and human rights, including the right of all children to access a high-quality public education that values and affirms every child. Although we cannot undo the damage done by this (and many other) Supreme Court decision overnight, we must continue to demand a federal government that will appropriately serve all communities and enforce civil rights laws and protections.
Resources
Carroll ISD. (August 5, 2024). Statement from the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees regarding OCR Complaints.
Duggins-Clay, P., & Lyons, M. (May 2024) Preventing and Addressing Identity-based Bullying in Schools – IDRA Model Policy Issue Brief. IDRA.
IDRA. (June 28, 2022). Supreme Court Further Erodes Separation of Church and State in Public Schools. IDRA Statement.
IDRA. (June 29, 2023) Students’ Racial Diversity Should be Celebrated, Not Minimized or Erased. IDRA Statement.
JFJ. (2024). 2023-2024 Supreme Court Term Review. Alliance for Justice.
LDF. (May 23, 2024a). U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Unanimous Post-Trial Decision and Long-Settled Precedent, Allows South Carolina’s Racially Discriminatory Congressional Map to Stand. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
LDF. (May 9, 2024b). Concerned Parents and Students Urge Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas to Enter Good-Faith Negotiations with Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to Resolve Finding of Civil Rights Violations. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
LDF. (February 15, 2022a). LDF, Arnold & Porter File Title VI and Title IX Complaint on Behalf of Southlake Tx. Parents, Students. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
LDF. (February 15, 2022b). Summary of Complaint: Cultural & Racial Equity for Every Dragon, Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition, et al. v. Carroll Independent School District, et al., Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. (February 14, 2024). Letter Urging the White House to Double Funding for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Llamon, C.E. (2024). Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report. U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights.
NIJC. (March 28, 2024). U.S. Department of State v. Muñoz. National Immigrant Justice Center.
Richman, T. (August 6, 2024). Southlake schools, federal investigators at impasse over civil rights complaints. Dallas Morning News.
Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., is IDRA’s chief legal analyst. Comments and questions may be directed to her via email at paige.duggins-clay@idra.org.
[© 2024, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the August edition of the IDRA Newsletter. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]
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