''Horne v. Flores'', 557 U.S. 433 (2009), is a case in which the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

remanded the case to determine whether Arizona's

general education General Education is a 2012 comedy film, directed by Tom Morris, starring Chris Sheffield, Maiara Walsh, Elaine Hendrix, Bobby Campo, Janeane Garofalo and Larry Miller and produced by Pelican House Productions. The film was shot in Chico and G ...

funding budget supports

Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 The Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA) of 1974 is a federal law of the United States of America. It prohibits discrimination against faculty, staff, and students, including racial segregation of students, and requires school districts ...

(EEOA)-compliant English Language Learner (ELL) programming.

Background

The case was brought in 1992 by English Language Learner (ELL) students against the state board of education and state superintendent on the grounds that the Nogales Unified School District had failed to teach the students

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, which was vital to their success. The case is styled after the plaintiff, Miriam Flores, one of the parents involved in the case, and the defendant, Thomas Horne, the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 2000, after almost eight years of pretrial proceedings and settling of various claims, the federal district court in Arizona held that the state was violating the Equal Educational Opportunity Act because the amount of funding it allocated for the special needs of ELL students was arbitrary and not related to the actual funding needed to cover the costs of ELL instruction in the plaintiffs' school district.

Opinion of the Court

On June 25, 2009, the

overturned the decision of the state court, deciding in favor of Horne, and allowing the state to determine its own requirements with regards to ELL instruction.

Justice Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has serve ...

wrote the opinion for the 5-4 majority. The opinion held that in evaluating the actions of the state attention should focus on student outcomes rather than on spending and inputs to schools.

Dissent

Justice Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and rep ...

, joined by

Justice Stevens John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-olde ...

Justice Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; born September 17, 1939) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the sea ...

, and

Justice Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...

. Justice Breyer argued that the lower courts did fairly consider every change in circumstances that the parties called to their attention, and that the majority opinion risks denying schoolchildren the English language instruction necessary to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horne V. Flores United States Supreme Court cases United States education case law Linguistic rights 2009 in United States case law 2009 in education United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court

Background

Opinion of the Court

Dissent

See also

References

External links