Lau v. Nichols (1974)

Details:

Chinese ELL students received no assistance in learning English and were enrolled in content area classes in which only English was spoken. Plaintiffs claimed a violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI. The Supreme Court did not invoke the Equal Protection Clause, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act was not yet in existence, but the court did find in favor of the plaintiffs based solely on Title VI's protection against discrimination based on "national origin".