In 1971, a lawsuit filed against the St. Louis Board of Education by a black parent alleged that the city's schools were segregated, and although local U.S. District Court Judge James Hargrove Meredith ruled against the parent, the decision was overturned in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals [REF].
To encourage participation, the court offered to remove districts from the NAACP's lawsuit (resulting in four districts offering to participate), then raised the possibility of consolidating the area's districts into a metropolitan district if more districts did not volunteer (resulting in nearly all suburban districts agreeing to participate) [REF].