Valeria v. Davis

California (defendant) had a bilingual educational practice of educating students with limited English proficiency (LEP students) in their native languages. The majority of California’s LEP students were Latino and native Spanish speakers. Proposition 227, a state-wide ballot measure, sought to overturn the bilingual instruction practice. Under Proposition 227, LEP students’ bilingual classes would be replaced by English immersion classes. The text of Proposition 227 invoked a “moral obligation . . . to provide all of California’s children . . . with the skills necessary to become productive members of our society, and of these skills, literacy in the English language is among the most important.” Proposition 227 also required that any further reform to English instruction for LEP students be done at the state-wide level. Proposition 227 passed, and the following day, a class representing public-school students and parents (plaintiffs) sued to have it declared unconstitutional. In particular, the students and parents alleged that the political restructuring of policymaking power concerning LEP students to exclusively the state-wide level violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because of the racial focus of bilingual education. The district court entered judgment in favor of the state, and the students and parents appealed.