Motion to Intervene is Granted

On December 12, 1980, at a spirited hearing in a courtroom filled by Groundswell supporters, their motion to intervene was granted, over objections by both the Carlin-class and the Board, and was formalized December 15. The now-Intervenors followed their attendance at the hearing by exercising their right of petition under the First Amendment.

In furtherance of establishing their role in the case as “persons,” I prepared separate petitions for those (1) students, (2) taxpayers-voters, and (3) taxpayers-parents, residing in the District who objected to the proposed mandatory student assignments as a violation of their respective rights. Those rights had been asserted in the intervening complaint as noted above, and the petitions were drafted to fit the category of the persons signing them, such as this one for students:

“I, the undersigned student, residing in the San Diego Unified School District, respectfully object to school authorities making me, because of my race, go away from my neighborhood public school location to classes, without my consent and the consent of my parent(s), as a violation of my rights.” (See exemplar in Busing — Opposed, App.V., p.142.)

District students signed 1856 out of the total of about 5983 petitions presented by the Groundswell president to the Board on March 3, 1981, of which exemplars in each category were later made a part of the record in the Carlin case. Id., App.V.

In the meantime, on December 22, 1980 (seven days after our intervention) the California Court of Appeal reversed the Crawford Superior Court, finding that the trial court’s 1970 findings did not support the conclusion that the Los Angeles District had violated the Constitution through intentional segregation. It further concluded that Proposition 1 was constitutional under the 14th Amendment and that plaintiffs were not entitled to a greater remedy than was provided by the federal Constitution. Crawford II, supra.

The Crawford Plaintiffs unsuccessfully petitioned the California Supreme Court for review, and then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court