A Law & Macroeconomics Critique of San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court decided, in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, to permit states to provide dramatically disparate funding for childhood education from district to district, thereby concretizing and propagating racial and economic inequality indefinitely. This Article shows that this decision entails staggering macroeconomic costs, undermines human development in the United States, and has hindered the government from promoting general welfare, domestic tranquility, and common defense. The opinion pursued the political objectives of the Southern Strategy and does not rest upon a legitimate exercise of judicial power. Rodriguez furthers the replication of our nation’s racial hierarchy rather than mitigates it.

As such, the decision cannot warrant precedential weight under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This abuse of judicial power also invites more political accountability of the judicial branch.