A federal judge Wednesday permanently blocked Arizona’s ban of ethnic studies in Tucson Unified School District.
Judge Wallace Tashima declared Arizona’s law unconstitutional, a ruling that comes after seven years of litigation.
The judge says the 2010 state law, which prohibited courses about ethnicity that could promote resentment toward a race, was itself motivated by racial animus.
That ban forced Tucson Unified to shut down its popular Mexican-American studies program in 2012.
The program dated back to the 1990s, and there does not appear to be a plan to re-instate it.
Arizona’s Attorney General’s Office says it hasn’t yet decided whether to appeal.
