In 1982, the Supreme Court decided by a single vote that American taxpayers must fund the education of children who are in the country illegally. Forty-four years later, Tennessee just passed a bill designed to make the Court answer for it.
The case will challenge a precedent set by the 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe.
That 5-4 ruling was made by a court that was filled with centrists afraid to rock the boat when it came to controversial cases such as this.
The Supreme Court in 1982 was led by Chief Justice Warren E Burger.
The associate justices were William J. Brennan, Byron R. White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry A. Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell Jr., William H. Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Technically, conservatives outnumbered liberals, but this was about as moderate a court as we have ever seen, and likely will ever see again.
When Plyler v. Doe came before the court, it was anyone’s guess how the ruling would go. In the 5-4 ruling, the dissenting justices were Chief Justice Burger, and Justices White, Rehnquist, and O'Connor.
This was a landmark case on two different fronts: illegal immigration and education.
It centered around a school district attempting to charge a fee for the loss of state funding for educating illegal immigrant children, as well as denying funding for the purpose of educating the illegals.
Texas had instituted a provision in 1975 that "prohibited the use of state funds for the education of children who had not been legally admitted to the U.S." In 1977, the Tyler Independent School District started a policy that required a $1,000 fee to be charged for students who were not in the country legally.
The court ruled that these children, although they were illegals, were people "in any ordinary sense of the term,” and were protected under the 14th Amendment.
The Tennessee Senate version would allow schools to deny enrollment or charge tuition to students who can't prove legal presence — a direct challenge to Plyler. The House version, after being stripped down over federal funding concerns, only requires schools to verify and report immigration status without denying enrollment.
Fox News reported, “In Tennessee, as in many states, per-student allocations drive budgets, meaning districts gain financially from admitting more students, regardless of immigration status. Lawmakers must go further by prohibiting public schools from using any tax dollars to educate those unlawfully present.
“Such a ban would redirect resources exclusively to lawful residents and citizens, allowing per-student funding to surge for eligible children without necessitating tax increases.”
Conservatives have been chomping at the bit to go after the previous Supreme Court ruling, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott having long encouraged revisiting the decision. Now, the court will have a reason to overturn what many consider to be blatant overreach by the Supreme Court.
