Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Robert L. Dowell
498 U.S. 237 · Decided January 15, 1991 · Supreme Court of the United States
At a glance
Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Robert L. Dowell was decided on January 15, 1991 by a vote of 5–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “School desegregation” in the Civil Rights area.
Read the opinion
Case details
- Citations
- 498 U.S. 237 · 111 S. Ct. 630 · 112 L. Ed. 2d 715 · 1991 U.S. LEXIS 484
- Docket number
- 89-1080
- Decided
- January 15, 1991
- Argued
- October 2, 1990
- Court era
- Rehnquist Court
- Decision type
- Opinion of the Court (orally argued)
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome for petitioner
- The petitioning party received a favorable disposition
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority opinion
- William H. Rehnquist
- Opinion assigned by
- William H. Rehnquist
- How the case arrived
- Certiorari
- Issue (SCDB)
- School desegregation
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Legal provision
- Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection)
- Type of law
- Constitutional amendment
- Decision direction (SCDB)
- Conservative what this means
How the Justices voted
| Justice | Vote | Separate writing |
|---|---|---|
| Justice Byron R. White | Majority | |
| Justice Thurgood Marshall | Dissent | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice Harry A. Blackmun | Dissent | |
| Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist | Majority | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice John Paul Stevens | Dissent | |
| Justice Sandra Day O'Connor | Majority | |
| Justice Antonin Scalia | Majority | |
| Justice Anthony M. Kennedy | Majority |
Did not participate: David H. Souter.
Full case caption
Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools, Independent School District No. 89, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma v. Robert L. Dowell et al.
SCDB identifiers: case 1990-022, docket 1990-022-01.
Related decisions
Other cases on “School desegregation”
- Missouri v. Jenkins
- Robert R. Freeman v. Willie Eugene Pitts
- United States v. Kirk Fordice
- Missouri v. Kalima Jenkins
- Papasan v. Allain
- Bob Jones University v. United StatesAltered precedent
Cases on the same legal provision: Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection)
- Powers v. Ohio
- Dionisio Hernandez v. New York
- Burlington Northern Railroad Company v. William D. Ford and Thomas L. Johnson
- Stephanie Nordlinger v. Kenneth Hahn
- Georgia v. Thomas McCollum
- Quinn v. MillsapLaw held unconstitutional
Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)
- In re Michael Sindram
- Mark E. Dennis v. Margaret L. Higgins
- Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Oklahoma
- International Union v. Johnson Controls, Inc.
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Arabian American Oil Co.
- Powers v. Ohio
Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error