Bill Text: IA HR118 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A resolution designating the week of September 24 through 29, 2018, as the sesquicentennial celebration of the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision in Clark v. Board of Directors .

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (N/A - Dead) 2018-05-01 - Laid over under Rule 25. H.J. 903. [HR118 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-HR118-Introduced.html

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House Resolution 118 - Introduced

PAG LIN




                    HOUSE RESOLUTION NO.    
                              BY  NUNN
  1  1 A Resolution designating the week of September
  1  2    24 through 29, 2018, as the sesquicentennial
  1  3    celebration of the Iowa Supreme Court's decision in
  1  4 Clark v. Board of Directors.
  1  5    WHEREAS, the 1868 Iowa Supreme Court decision in
  1  6 Clark v. Board of Directors (of Muscatine Schools),
  1  7 holding racial segregation of the public schools
  1  8 unconstitutional, is one of the most important court
  1  9 decisions in the history of American jurisprudence, and
  1 10 was hailed by Chief Justice Mark Cady in his 2018 State
  1 11 of the Judiciary Address as "a defining moment for Iowa
  1 12 and the nation"; and
  1 13    WHEREAS, the Iowa Supreme Court, relying upon the
  1 14 constitutional "principle of equal rights to all, upon
  1 15 which our government is founded," was the first and one
  1 16 of only four state courts in the nineteenth century to
  1 17 strike down school segregation under state law; and
  1 18    WHEREAS, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected
  1 19 government=imposed segregation in public education 86
  1 20 years before the United States Supreme Court did in
  1 21 Brown v. Board of Education in 1954; and
  1 22    WHEREAS, the Clark v. Board of Directors decision
  1 23 continues to have great vitality and relevance today,
  1 24 not only in its rejection of segregation and racism,
  1 25 but also as the precedent that demonstrated that
  1 26 the Iowa Constitution provides great protection for
  1 27 individual rights independent of the United States
  1 28 Constitution; and
  2  1 WHEREAS, both law schools in the state have close
  2  2 ties to the Clark v. Board of Directors decision,
  2  3 as Justice Chester Cole, the author of the Court's
  2  4 opinion, was the co=founder and long=time dean and
  2  5 faculty member of the Drake Law School, and Alexander
  2  6 Clark, Jr. and Alexander Clark, Sr., the brother
  2  7 and father of plaintiff Susan Clark, were the first
  2  8 African=American graduates of the University of Iowa
  2  9 College of Law; and
  2 10    WHEREAS, in collaboration with the Iowa Supreme
  2 11 Court, Drake University and its law school, and
  2 12 the University of Iowa College of Law, will host
  2 13 a series of celebratory programs and events the
  2 14 week of September 24 through 29 to commemorate the
  2 15 historic Clark v. Board of Directors decision and the
  2 16 extraordinary civil rights leadership of Justice Cole
  2 17 and Alexander Clark, Sr.; NOW THEREFORE,
  2 18    BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, That
  2 19 the House of Representatives designates the week of
  2 20 September 24 through 29, 2018, as the sesquicentennial
  2 21 celebration of the Iowa Supreme Court's decision in
  2 22 Clark v. Board of Directors.
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