Yes, Lee said. After conferring with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the late sixties, the county developed a "clean" approach to desegregating its schools, and the racial imbalance was eliminated....

The approach Lee urged upon the court was for it to look at who caused the segregation in question. If you do that, he said, Pasadena... disposes of both issues in this case. First, he said, the demographic shifts are not attributable to DCSS, and thus should not reflect upon its unitary status. Second, the non-attainment of one factor in Pasadena did not require an overall change in the other factors.

Lee shifted gears and closed with a discussion of federalism and the efficient allocation of resources. Under Dowell, he said, school systems should be run by local governing bodies, and not federal courts. For 22 years, DCSS has been trying to obey the law, but now, due to circumstances beyond its control, it's being told it will have to continue under court supervision for an indefinite length of time. Under the Eleventh Circuit's opinion, Lee noted, his clients are looking at more busing and radical gerrymandering.

The U.S. government, arguing as amicus curiae in support of DCSS, was represented by Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr. The critical part of the inquiry in this case, Starr began, is causation. Who is responsible for the segregation? As a general matter, he said, a federal court remedy is excessive if it goes beyond curing the constitutional violation....

Christopher A. Hansen, of New York, argued on behalf of the black student plaintiffs. In his opening remarks, he noted that the county was purposely segregated even after Brown; that, as the district court found, the system never fully desegregated; and that the schools today are both separate and unequal with fewer resources being spent on black students ....