The U.S. Supreme Court case Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman in 1978 dealt with the issue of racial segregation within schools in Dayton, Ohio. The court ruled that if a school board was found to have practiced de jure (by law) segregation at any point since Brown v. Board of Education's ruling against it in 1954, then they were responsible for desegregating their entire system - not just those parts proven to be segregated by law or policy. This decision expanded upon previous rulings and clarified that once a violation had been identified, the responsibility fell on the offending party to rectify all aspects potentially affected by this violation rather than only addressing specific instances where discrimination could be definitively proven.

In the dissenting opinion for Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman, Justice Powell argued that the court's decision to uphold a district-wide desegregation plan was too broad and not sufficiently justified by evidence of systemic segregation across all schools in Dayton. He contended that while there were instances of racial discrimination within certain schools, it did not necessarily mean that such practices were prevalent throughout the entire school system. Therefore, he believed imposing a citywide remedy was excessive and inappropriate given the circumstances. Furthermore, he expressed concern about federal courts becoming excessively involved in local educational affairs which could potentially undermine their autonomy and ability to effectively manage their own institutions.