A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the U.S. Constitution includes a right to "a basic minimum education," which lawyers claim the state of Michigan denied to a group of Detroit Public School students.

In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that it was breaking new legal ground.

"While the Supreme Court has repeatedly discussed this issue, it has never decided it, and the question of whether such a right exists remains open today," the court ruled, adding that after applying the Supreme Court's rulings from other cases, "we recognize that the Constitution provides a fundamental right to a basic minimum education."

The court noted that the right was "narrow in scope."

"It does not guarantee an education at the quality that most have come to expect in today’s America (but that many are nevertheless denied)," the ruling said. "Rather, the right only guarantees the education needed to provide access to skills that are essential for the basic exercise of other fundamental rights and liberties, most importantly participation in our political system."

The ruling comes in a 2016 lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of students from some of Detroit's lowest-performing public schools. The crux of their complaint was that without basic literacy, they cannot access other constitutionally guaranteed rights such as voting, serving in the military and on juries.

Detroit Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the decision "shines a bright light on the state of Michigan’s failures toward the school district’s children and employees, mainly teachers."

Vitti said Detroiters have long argued that the state mismanaged the district and failed to invest in facilities, curriculum and other necessities.

"This decision does something that even the U.S. Supreme Court has not done," Vitti said. "It finds that there is an inherent right to a minimum education. And, the decision says that the state of Michigan can be held liable for violating such constitutional right."

Mark Rosenbaum, a lawyer who represents the students, called the ruling "a thrilling and just result."

"It's a historic day for Detroit," he said.

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The suit was filed against the state of Michigan, which had run the district on and off for years through the appointment of emergency financial managers. The appointments were made because the district had run deficits and had other financial problems.

In July 2018, U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy in Detroit dismissed the suit.

"Plainly, literacy — and the opportunity to obtain it — is of incalculable importance," Murphy wrote in a 40-page opinion. "As plaintiffs point out, voting, participating meaningfully in civic life, and accessing justice require some measure of literacy."

But those points, Murphy said, "do not necessarily make access to literacy a fundamental right."

Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said the state is reviewing the ruling. Brown noted that Whitmer has never argued against a constitutional right to literacy.

Lawyers for the state had moved to dismiss the case, arguing that local control had been restored to Detroit schools and Gov. Rick Snyder, who appointed the most recent emergency manager, was no longer in office.

Vitti said he supported Whitmer's support of public education, but he wants this case to end.

"We can only hope that the governor will seek to settle this case and work to remedy the state’s violation of Detroit students’ constitutional right to access to literacy," Vitti said. "It is now time to move toward healing these historic wounds."

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan heralded the finding.

“Today’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals that Detroit schoolchildren have a right to basic facilities, teaching, and educational materials is a major step forward," Duggan said in a statement. "Literacy is something every child should have a fair chance to attain. We hope instead of filing another appeal, the parties sit down and focus on how to make literacy available to every child in Michigan.”

The case laid bare some of the conditions faced by Detroit students at that time, including classrooms where temperatures rose above 90 or fell below freezing because heating and cooling systems didn't work.

“Mice, cockroaches, and other vermin regularly inhabit ... classrooms, and the first thing some teachers do each morning is attempt to clean up rodent feces before their students arrive," the suit said.

The suit also noted that some classes had no teachers at all because of absences, noting that in one case “an eighth-grade student was put in charge of teaching seventh and eighth grade math classes for a month because no math teacher was available.”

The Appeals Court ruling sends the case back to Murphy.

Some education advocates wanted the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, in hopes of establishing a nationwide constitutional right to literacy. The Appeals Court ruling applies only in the 6th Circuit, which includes Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Rosenbaum said he would like to see the case settled.

"My goal is get these kids the relief they deserve," he said. "I hope this case never sees the inside of a courtroom again."

Rosenbaum wouldn't say what kind of relief would be required to settle the case, only that it should be negotiated between the governor and Vitti.

"The ball is in the governor's court and the attorney general's court," Rosenbaum said. "I don't want to negotiate this in public."

The attorney general represents the state in lawsuits.

The Appeals Court did dismiss a portion of the lawsuit, which claimed the state discriminated against Detroit students by providing an education inferior to that provided to students in other districts.

The court said that the complaint as filed on behalf of the students didn't "identify the actions taken or policies implemented by defendants that treated their schools differently from others in the state and caused the disparities at issue in this case."

The case has long carried political implications. It was filed against Snyder, a Republican. Another Republican, then Attorney General Bill Schuette, argued on the state's behalf, that the Constitution doesn't include such a right.

In 2018, Michigan voters elected two Democrats, Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who took a different view. Both were quoted in their campaigns as saying they believed that such a constitutional right did exist, though their court pleadings sought to dismiss the case as moot.

The two judges who issued the ruling were both appointed by Democratic presidents. Judge Eric Clay and Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch were appointed by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, respectively.

The judge who dissented in the ruling, Judge Eric Murphy, is an appointee of President Donald Trump.

Murphy wrote in his dissent that the ruling will violate the separation of powers by forcing courts to answer questions on whether states should raise taxes, issue school vouchers and replace things like textbooks and heating and cooling systems.

The ruling means that Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee "now must meet the school-quality standards that federal judges find necessary to enforce the plaintiffs’ nebulous right to 'access literacy,' " Murphy wrote, even though "the Supreme Court has repeatedly explained that public education is not a ‘right’ granted to individuals by the Constitution.”

What the ruling means in practical terms isn't yet clear.

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused all districts to spend on things like online learning, school disinfecting and meal distribution. Tax revenues, which fund schools, are expected to fall sharply because of the economic shutdown.

Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com. On Twitter @jwisely