Runyon v. McCrary

Runyon v. McCrary
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 26, 1976 Decided June 25, 1976
Full case name	Runyon, et ux., dba Bobbe's School v. McCrary, et al.
Citations	427 U.S. 160 (more) 96 S. Ct. 2586, 49 L. Ed. 2d 415, 1976 U.S. LEXIS 7
Holding
Federal law prohibits private schools from discriminating on the basis of race.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	Stewart, joined by Burger, Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens
Concurrence	Powell
Concurrence	Stevens
Dissent	White, joined by Rehnquist
Laws applied
Civil Rights Act of 1866

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Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160 (1976), was a landmark case by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that private schools that discriminate on the basis of race or establish racial segregation are in violation of federal law.^[1] Whereas Brown v. Board of Education barred segregation by public schools, this case barred segregation in private schools. This decision is built on Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. another landmark civil rights case that affirmed the federal government's ability to penalize racist acts by private actors.

Dissenting Justices Byron White and William Rehnquist (who allegedly opposed Brown v. Board of Education for parts of his life) argued that the legislative history of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (popularly known as the Civil Rights Act of 1866) indicated that the Act was not designed to prohibit private racial discrimination, but only state-sponsored racial discrimination (as had been held in the Civil Rights Cases of 1883).