Retired judge who presided over Kansas City desegregation case

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Retired U.S. District Judge Russell G. Clark, who presided over the Kansas City School District's desegregation case, died Thursday night in a Springfield nursing home. He was 77.

The desegregation case, which has spanned 26 years, has cost more than $2 billion, winning both praise and criticism. The district is seeking an end to the case, saying it has reduced the achievement gap between black and white students.

Clark was assigned to oversee the case shortly after he was appointed to the federal bench in 1977. He presided over the case until 1997, three years before his retirement.

In 1984, Clark declared that the school district's "discriminatory and state-fostered dual school system for black and white students must be eliminated." He ruled that the district and the state of Missouri were liable for illegal segregation and ordered them to "wipe out segregation."

Clark ordered an expensive system of magnet schools and other improvements. The judge had many critics, including U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

As state attorney general, Ashcroft battled in court against judicial orders in the cases. As governor, he refused to acknowledge in the state budget the annual court-ordered payments to the city school districts. The hundreds of millions of dollars were nonetheless carved from the top of the treasury.

Ashcroft criticized Clark's handling of the case as recently as 1997, saying the judge's rulings offered "a case study in the need for Senate hearings on the problem of activist judges who legislate freely from the bench."

But educators praised Clark, saying his plan was the most comprehensive educational remedy that's ever been ordered.

Ultimately, that remedy had mixed results, leading to new school buildings and programs but failing to dramatically improve student achievement in the district.

An Oregon County native, Clark attended the University of Missouri-Columbia after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II.

He joined the Allen and Woolsey law firm in Springfield in 1952 and later became senior partner in the firm of Woolsey, Fisher, Clark and Whitaker.

The funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday at King's Way United Methodist Church in Springfield.