Cite as: 515 U. S. 70 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was found to have participated, along with a local housing agency, in establishing and maintaining a racially segregated public housing program. 425 U. S., at 286-291. After the Court of Appeals ordered " 'the adoption of a comprehensive metropolitan area plan,' " id., at 291, we granted certiorari to consider the "permissibility in light of [Milliken I] of 'inter-district relief for discrimination in public housing in the absence of a finding of an inter-district violation.' " Gautreaux, supra, at 292. Because the "relevant geographic area for purposes of the [plaintiffs'] housing options [was] the Chicago housing market, not the Chicago city limits," 425 U. S., at 299, we concluded that "a metropolitan area remedy . . . [was] not impermissible as a matter of law," id., at 306. Cf. id., at 298, n. 13 (distinguishing Milliken I, in part, because prior cases had established that racial segregation in schools is "to be dealt with in terms of 'an established geographic and administrative school system' ").
In Gautreaux, we did not obligate the District Court to "subjec[t] HUD to measures going beyond the geographical or political boundaries of its violation." Post, at 171- 172. Instead, we cautioned that our holding "should not be interpreted as requiring a metropolitan area order." Gautreaux, 425 U. S., at 306. We reversed appellate factfinding by the Court of Appeals that would have mandated a metropolitan-area remedy, see id., at 294-295, n. 11, and remanded the case back to the District Court " 'for additional evidence and for further consideration of the issue of metropolitan area relief,' " id., at 306.
Our decision today is fully consistent with Gautreaux. A district court seeking to remedy an intradistrict violation that has not "directly caused" significant interdistrict effects, Milliken I, supra, at 744-745, exceeds its remedial authority if it orders a remedy with an interdistrict purpose. This conclusion follows directly from Milliken II, decided one year after Gautreaux, where we reaffirmed the bedrock
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