Which case authorized desegregation of public schools via busing?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)
• C. Tinker v. Des Moines
• D. Roe v. Wade

Answer: (B)

Desegregation remedies in education focus on how courts can actively dismantle segregated systems when a district remains unconstitutional after a ruling. A key remedy is busing students to different schools or across district lines to create a racially integrated student body and to counteract the effects of prior segregation.

In the 1971 Swann case, the Supreme Court upheld this approach, affirming that busing is a legitimate and constitutional tool to achieve desegregation. The Court ruled that when a court-ordered plan aims to eliminate the vestiges of segregation, it may use busing and other remedies, even across district boundaries, to accomplish integration. The decision emphasized that remedies must be reasonably related to the goal of desegregation and that federal courts have broad authority to design and enforce those remedies to correct the constitutional violations from state-imposed segregation.

This fits the question because Swann explicitly authorized using busing as a means to desegregate public schools, building on Brown v. Board of Education, which established that racial segregation in schooling is unconstitutional and requires remedy. The other options address different issues (student rights in Tinker; abortion rights in Roe) or predate the specific remedy framework Swann clarified.