Inside the Supreme Court

Petition to Decision

Papers of Supreme Court Justices on Civil Rights Cases

David Achtenberg

Professor & Law Foundation Scholar

UMKC School of Law

Kansas City, MO 64110-2499

816-235-2382

AchtenbergD@umkc.edu

 

 

 

Jett Home
Jett v. Dallas Independent School District

Footnotes

1 Compare,  Springer v. Seaman, 821 F.2d 871, 880-81 (1st Cir. 1987)(holding § 1981 suits not governed by Monell) and Leonard v. Frankfort Electric and Water Plant Board, 752 F.2d 189, 194, n. 9 (6th Cir. 1985)(same) with Jett v. Dallas Independent School District, 798 F.2d 748 (5th Cir. 1986)(panel opinion) (holding § 1981 governed by Monell) and Jett v. Dallas Independent School District, 837 F.2d 1234 (denying rehearing)(same).
2 Public employers remained liable for employment discrimination under the modern civil rights acts such as Title VII.
3 See, Pittman v. Oregon Employment Department, 509 F.3d 1065, 1069 (9th Cir. 2007) (recognizing that all the circuits other than the 9th have held that enactment of 42 U.S. C. § 1981(c) did not overrule Jett).  The Ninth Circuit, in Federation of African American Contractors v. City of Oakland, 96 F.3d 1204 (9th Cir. 1996), held that the enactment of 42 U.S.C. § 1981(c) did permit plaintiffs to bring racial discrimination cases against municipalities under Section 1981, but also held that such suits would be subject to Monells ban on respondeat superior.
4 The playoff game pitted predominantly white Plano High School, a perennial powerhouse, against all-black South Oak Cliff.  The Plano coach objected to having black officials assigned to the game, but Jett successfully argued that they should be.  After a 14-0 loss, Jett entered the official's locker room and berated them, saying he would never use black officials again.
5 Jett alleged that Todd wanted South Oak Cliff to be be the first predominantly black school to win the state championship and that having a white coach was an obstacle to that goal.  He claimed that Todd believed that a state championship team would depend on having a black coach who would recruit middle school players from predominantly black middle schools.  (Recruitment of middle school athletes would have been a violation of district policy.) 
6 Principal Todd settled before the case went to the Supreme Court.