Cite as: 503 U. S. 467 (1992)
Syllabus
pattern of lawful conduct directed to eliminating earlier violations. And with the passage of time the degree to which racial imbalances continue to represent vestiges of a constitutional violation may diminish, and the practicability and efficacy of various remedies can be evaluated with more precision. Pp. 491-492. 2. The Court of Appeals erred in holding that, as a matter of law, the District Court had no discretion to permit DCSS to regain control over student assignments and three other Green factors, while retaining supervision over faculty assignments and the quality of education. Pp. 492-500. (a) The District Court exercised its discretion appropriately in addressing the Green elements, inquiring into quality of education, and determining whether minority students were being disadvantaged in ways that required the formulation of new and further remedies in areas of noncompliance. This approach illustrates that the Green factors need not be a rigid framework and demonstrates the proper use of equitable discretion. By withdrawing control over areas where judicial supervision is no longer needed, a district court can concentrate its own and the school district's resources on the areas where the effects of de jure discrimination have not been eliminated and further action is necessary. Pp. 492-493. (b) The related premises underlying the Court of Appeals' rejection of the District Court's order—first, that given noncompliance in some discrete categories, there can be no partial withdrawal of judicial control; and second, until there is full compliance, Swann, supra, requires that heroic measures be taken to ensure racial balance in student assignments system wide—are incorrect under this Court's analysis and precedents. Racial balance is not to be achieved for its own sake, but is to be pursued only when there is a causal link between an imbalance and the constitutional violation. Once racial imbalance traceable to the constitutional violation has been remedied, a school district is under no duty to remedy an imbalance that is caused by demographic factors. Id., at 31-32. The decree here accomplished its objective of desegregation in student assignments in the first year of its operation, and the District Court's finding that the subsequent resegregation is attributable to independent demographic forces is credible. A proper rule must be based on the necessity to find a feasible remedy that ensures systemwide compliance with the decree and that is directed to curing the effect of the specific violation. Pp. 493-497. (c) Resolution of the question whether retention of judicial control over student attendance is necessary or practicable to achieve compliance in other facets of DCSS must await further proceedings on remand. The District Court did not have this Court's analysis before it when
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