Voucher Wars: Waging the Legal Battle Over School Choice

Set against the backdrop of a monopoly public school system that consigns millions of disadvantaged children to educational inequality, the recent Cleveland school vouchers case, appealed all the way to the Supreme Court—which on June 27, 2002 upheld the program in an historic decision—has brought the issue of educational freedom to national attention.

Some have called it the most important lawsuit of its kind since Brown v. Board of Education. In this book, Clint Bolick, one of the premier fighters for school choice in the nation, and counsel in the Cleveland case, recounts the drama and the tactics of the 12-year battle for choice and, in the process, distills crucial lessons for future educational freedom battles.

Press Release: Voucher Wars

“…an engaging memoir…”
—National Review

“By the end of Voucher Wars, the reader is left wondering why school choice didn’t win out long ago.”
—The Weekly Standard

“Clint Bolick has written an exciting and fascinating account of his experience as a lawyer defending school choice. In the process, he provides a comprehensive history of the school choice movement from the 1990 enactment of the nation’s first urban school program in Wisconsin to the 2002 Supreme Court decision that established the constitutionality of voucher programs including religious schools. Clint makes clear how high the stakes are for the youngsters in low-income families condemned to failing government schools and how much their parents are willing to sacrifice to rescue them. A true human interest tale.”
—Milton Friedman

“Clint Bolick is the nation’s leading attorney for parental choice and education reform. No one knows this legal battle better than Clint, and his successes are victories for both our education system and our children.”
—William J. Bennett, Co-Director, Empower America; Former Secretary of Education

“Clint Bolick is the new Thurgood Marshall. Marshall litigated the end of legal apartheid; Bolick the demolition of educational townships.”
—John Gardner, Milwaukee School Board

“Clint Bolick confounds his liberal critics because he is something that is not supposed to exist on the Right: an idealist.”
—Nina Easton, Author, Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade

Clint Bolick is the vice president and national director of the Institute for Justice. He is widely considered the nation’s foremost legal expert on school vouchers and tax credits. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.