decisions interpreting and guiding the meaning of the Connecticut Constitution, including that the Connecticut Constitution affords greater protections than its Federal counterpart—including the Kerrigan decision discussed below, and Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Educational Funding v. Rell. Chief Justice Ellen Ash Peters and Justice David Shea and Justice Robert Glass joined Justice Berdon's majority opinion. Justice Alfred Covello dissented.http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR289/289CR152.pdf Sheff v. O'Neill (1996) Sheff v. O'Neill is a landmark Connecticut Supreme Court decision (Sheff v. O'Neill, 238 Conn. 1, 678 A.2d 1267) regarding civil rights and the right to education.Justin A. Long, Enforcing affirmative state constitutional obligations and Sheff V. O'Neill. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 151, No. 1 (Nov. 2002), pp. 277–310. On July 9, 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the state had an affirmative obligation to provide Connecticut's school children with a substantially equal educational opportunity and that this constitutionally guaranteed right encompasses the access to a public education which is not substantially and materially impaired by racial and ethnic isolation. This was a split 4–3 decision, which was authored by Chief Justice Ellen Ash Peters. Peters was joined in the majority opinion by Justices Robert Berdon, Flemming L. Norcott, Jr., and Joette Katz. Justice David M. Borden authored the dissent, with Justices Robert Callahan and Richard Palmer concurring. Kelo v. City of New London (2004) One of the most important cases the court has decided was Kelo v. City of New London (2004), appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state court sided with the city in a 4–3 decision, with the majority opinion authored by Justice Norcott and joined by Justices Borden, Palmer and Vertefeuille. Justice Zarella wrote an unusually lengthy and considered dissent (joined by Justices Sullivan and Katz), due to the importance of the case and the high likelihood that the United States Supreme Court would grant certiorari. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Connecticut Supreme Court's decision in favor of the city, in a 5–4 decision, with the dissent written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The Kelo decision is studied as a continuation of the expansion of governments' power to seize property through eminent domain, although the widespread negative popular reaction has spurred a backlash in which many state legislatures have curtailed their eminent domain power. Office of the Governor v. Select Committee of Inquiry (2004)