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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 2000c-6. Civil actions by the Attorney General
(a) Complaint; certification; notice to school board or college
authority; institution of civil action; relief requested;
jurisdiction; transportation of pupils to achieve racial balance;
judicial power to insure compliance with constitutional
standards; impleading additional parties as defendants
Whenever the Attorney General receives a complaint in writing -
(1) signed by a parent or group of parents to the effect that
his or their minor children, as members of a class of persons
similarly situated, are being deprived by a school board of the
equal protection of the laws, or
(2) signed by an individual, or his parent, to the effect that
he has been denied admission to or not permitted to continue in
attendance at a public college by reason of race, color,
religion, sex or national origin,
and the Attorney General believes the complaint is meritorious and
certifies that the signer or signers of such complaint are unable,
in his judgment, to initiate and maintain appropriate legal
proceedings for relief and that the institution of an action will
materially further the orderly achievement of desegregation in
public education, the Attorney General is authorized, after giving
notice of such complaint to the appropriate school board or college
authority and after certifying that he is satisfied that such board
or authority has had a reasonable time to adjust the conditions
alleged in such complaint, to institute for or in the name of the
United States a civil action in any appropriate district court of
the United States against such parties and for such relief as may
be appropriate, and such court shall have and shall exercise
jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this section,
provided that nothing herein shall empower any official or court of
the United States to issue any order seeking to achieve a racial
balance in any school by requiring the transportation of pupils or
students from one school to another or one school district to
another in order to achieve such racial balance, or otherwise
enlarge the existing power of the court to insure compliance with
constitutional standards. The Attorney General may implead as
defendants such additional parties as are or become necessary to
the grant of effective relief hereunder.
(b) Persons unable to initiate and maintain legal proceedings
The Attorney General may deem a person or persons unable to
initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings within the
meaning of subsection (a) of this section when such person or
persons are unable, either directly or through other interested
persons or organizations, to bear the expense of the litigation or
to obtain effective legal representation; or whenever he is
satisfied that the institution of such litigation would jeopardize
the personal safety, employment, or economic standing of such
person or persons, their families, or their property.
(c) "Parent" and "complaint" defined
The term "parent" as used in this section includes any person
standing in loco parentis. A "complaint" as used in this section is
a writing or document within the meaning of section 1001, title 18.
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