What if school desegregation would have been included in the 1875 Civil Rights Act, like it almost was in real life? Michael McConnell (a former law professor and judge) previously (back in the 1990s) wrote extensively about the large support (almost two-thirds) that school desegregation had in both houses of the US Congress in 1874, before the results of the 1874 midterms caused some Republicans to chicken out in regards to this and thus to remove school desegregation from the 1875 Civil Rights Act.

Anyway, let's say that Republicans are able to push through the 1875 Civil Rights Act with school desegregation a year earlier. What happens next? I'm presuming that SCOTUS would strike down school desegregation in the 1883 Civil Rights Cases, albeit on different grounds than the rest of the 1875 Civil Rights Act. Specifically, SCOTUS could argue that while the 14th Amendment prohibits some forms of state action, it would not prohibit this specific form of state action and thus the US Congress would have no right to ban it. This is the very same US Supreme Court that *unanimously* decided Pace v. Alabama in 1883, mind you! I do wonder if there would have been any dissents in regards to school desegregation, though. Harlan, perhaps? Anyone else? What would their dissents have looked like had they indeed dissented?

I also wonder if a SCOTUS ruling against school desegregation in 1883 would have hindered efforts to abolish school desegregation through either the US Congress or the US judiciary later on, such as in the mid- or late 20th century.

Thoughts on all of this?