The Swann case represented an important development in the law regarding the implementation of school desegregation pursuant to Brown v. Board of Education. In the wake of massive resistance to the enforcement of Brown, the Supreme Court approved wide-ranging methods to achieve racial balance in public schools. In this case, the Court upheld a U.S. district court order requiring a large North Carolina school district to achieve a certain numerical ratio of white students to black students at each school within the district and to utilize busing to achieve this goal. The decision expanded the federal courts’ equitable powers to fashion remedies in school desegregation cases.