E.L. v. Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation, No. 16-3242 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit on behalf of her son, alleging that VICC's race-based, school-transfer policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the complaint, holding that plaintiff lacked standing because the mention of magnet schools and the generalized grievance about VICC's transfer policy for them was insufficient to allege an injury in fact. In this case, VICC had no administrative or supervisory authority over charter schools, which are independent public schools, governed by the state. Even if VICC's policy applied to charter schools, VICC still would not cause the son's injury because VICC does not make or adopt rules or regulations for charter schools. Because the son's injury was not fairly traceable to VICC, he lacked standing.
Court Description: Benton, Author, with Colloton and Beam, Circuit Judges] Civil case - School Desegregation. Plaintiff lacked standing to sue the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation, a non-profit corporation created by a 1999 settlement agreement in the St. Louis School Desegregation Case, over a claim that a policy declaring African-American students living outside the city ineligible for enrollment in the city charter schools was a violation of plaintiff's civil rights; the decision to reject the student's enrollment was made by the charter school to which the student applied, and VICC has no administrative or supervisory authority over the charter schools; in any event, the rules and regulations for charter schools are made by the schools and the State of Missouri, and nothing VICC did caused plaintiff's injury; since plaintiff's injury is not fairly traceable to VICC, plaintiff lacks standing.
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