Kaitlyn Sumner and Kathryn Tibbles

Landmark Court Rulings

Regarding ELLs
Research Guide

Lau v. Nichols (1974)

Who is the defendant in this case? School

Who is the plaintiff in this case? Students

What claims are being made by the plaintiff?

Only about 1,000 of those were provided supplemental English instruction

Where did this case originate?

San Francisco after desegregation based on the results of Lee v. Johnson.

In what year did this case originate? December 10th , 1973

In what year was this case decided by the Supreme Court? January 21st , 1974

What was the majority opinion of the Supreme Court (winning side)?

Their lack of supplemental language instruction in public school for students with limited English
proficiency violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Why is this case considered a “Landmark”? How did it affect the education of ELLs?

First, the District Court denied this and argued that the school district’s policy gave equality for helping
all students so the district wasn’t intentionally discriminating, equal protection was provided and not
violating the fourth amendment “ the school was not required to make up for the different starting
points of students”. This prohibited the “sink and swim” policy.