Shifting the burden of proof effectively enabled district-wide busing remedies.

Evidence

If the plaintiff could prove intentional segregation in one part of the school system, the justices held, then the burden of proof shifted to the school board to show that segregation in other parts of the school system did not result from official action. Because proving this was virtually impossible, Keyes in effect permitted district-wide desegregation remedies, including busing, based on violations occurring in only one part of the district. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3032

Categorization

• XREF: A clean example of how evidentiary rules, not substantive doctrine alone, determine remedial reach.
• SEED: Article angle: how burden-shifting doctrines quietly expand judicial power by making certain defenses practically impossible to prove.