U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson said a provision of the law dealing with race violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He said that part couldn't be separated from the rest of the law, so he declared the whole thing unconstitutional.
"The State must employ a more nuanced, individualized evaluation of school and student needs, which, while they may include race as one component, may not base enrollment or transfer options solely on race," Dawson wrote.
The state had argued that the provision in the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 1989 was needed to preserve desegregation efforts.
