# 06 - Civil Rights and Equal Protection Cases 1950-1960 by United States Supreme Court

An episode of [Civil Rights and Equal Protection Cases 1950-1960](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815309543), 16 May 2025, 34 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/66112994/06_civil_rights_and_equal_protection_cases_1950_1960_by_united_states_supreme_court.mp3

Journey into the heart of landmark Supreme Court decisions that shaped civil rights and equal protection in the United States during the transformative decade of 1950-1960, as concisely summarized by Kelli Robinson. This episode includes AI-generated content.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Cooper versus Erin. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
[0:07] Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
[0:11] Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Kelly
[0:16] Speaker 1: Robinson in Birmingham, Alabama, Cooper versus Erin, an opinion of
[0:22] Speaker 1: the United States Supreme Court, decided on September twenty ninth,
[0:27] Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight. Please note this is a reading of
[0:32] Speaker 1: the opinion of the Court only for ease of listening.
[0:36] Speaker 1: This reading omits legal citations and footnotes found within the
[0:40] Speaker 1: text of the Court's opinion. Opinion of the Court by
[0:44] Speaker 1: the Chief Justice, Mister Justice Black, Mister Justice Frankfurter, Mister
[0:50] Speaker 1: Justice Douglas, Mister Justice Burton, Mister Justice Clark, Mister Justice Harlan,
[0:57] Speaker 1: Mister Justice Brittan, and Mister Justice Whittaker. As this case
[1:03] Speaker 1: reaches us, it raises questions of the highest importance to
[1:07] Speaker 1: the maintenance of our federal system of government. It necessarily
[1:12] Speaker 1: involves a claim by the governor and legislature of a
[1:16] Speaker 1: state that there is no duty on state officials to
[1:19] Speaker 1: obey federal court orders resting on this Court's considered interpretation
[1:25] Speaker 1: of the United States Constitution. Specifically, it involves actions by
[1:31] Speaker 1: the governor and legislature of Arkansas upon the premise that
[1:35] Speaker 1: they are not bound by our holding in Brown Versus
[1:39] Speaker 1: Board of Education. That holding was that the Fourteenth Amendment
[1:44] Speaker 1: forbids states to use their governmental powers to bar children
[1:48] Speaker 1: on racial grounds from attending schools where there is state
[1:52] Speaker 1: participation through any arrangement management funds, or property. We are
[1:59] Speaker 1: urged to uphold a suspension of the Little Rock School
[2:03] Speaker 1: Board's plan to do away with segregated public schools in
[2:07] Speaker 1: Little Rock until state laws and efforts to upset and
[2:11] Speaker 1: nullify our holding in Brown Versus Board of Education have
[2:15] Speaker 1: been further challenged and tested in the courts. We reject
[2:20] Speaker 1: these contentions. The case was argued before US on September eleventh,
[2:25] Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight. On the following day, we unanimously affirmed
[2:30] Speaker 1: the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit,
[2:34] Speaker 1: which had reversed a judgment of the District Court for
[2:37] Speaker 1: the Eastern District of Arkansas. The District Court had granted
[2:41] Speaker 1: the application of the petitioners, the Little Rock School Board
[2:45] Speaker 1: and school Superintendent to suspend for two and one half
[2:49] Speaker 1: years the operation of the school board's court approved desegregation program.
[2:55] Speaker 1: In order that the school board might know without doubt
[2:59] Speaker 1: its duty in this regard before the opening of school,
[3:02] Speaker 1: which had been set for the following Monday, September fifteenth,
[3:06] Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight, we immediately issued the judgment, reserving the
[3:11] Speaker 1: expression of our supporting views to a later date. This
[3:15] Speaker 1: opinion of all of the members of the Court embodies
[3:18] Speaker 1: those views. The following are the facts and circumstances, so
[3:22] Speaker 1: far as necessary to show how the legal questions are presented.
[3:27] Speaker 1: On May seventeenth, nineteen fifty four, this Court decided that
[3:31] Speaker 1: enforced racial segregation in the public schools of a state
[3:36] Speaker 1: is a denial of the equal protection of the laws
[3:39] Speaker 1: and joined by the fourteenth Amendment. The Court postponed, pending
[3:43] Speaker 1: further argument, formulation of a decree to effectuate this decision.
[3:48] Speaker 1: That decree was rendered May thirty first, nineteen fifty five.
[3:54] Speaker 1: In the formulation of that decree, the Court recognized that
[3:57] Speaker 1: good faith compliance with the principles declared in Brown might,
[4:02] Speaker 1: in some situations call for elimination of a variety of
[4:06] Speaker 1: obstacles in making the transition to school systems operated in
[4:11] Speaker 1: accordance with the constitutional principles set forth in our May seventeenth,
[4:16] Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four decision. The Court went on to state,
[4:21] Speaker 1: courts of equity may properly take into account the public
[4:25] Speaker 1: interest in the elimination of such obstacles in a systematic
[4:29] Speaker 1: and effective manner, but it should go without saying that
[4:32] Speaker 1: the vitality of these constitutional principles cannot be allowed to
[4:37] Speaker 1: yield simply because of disagreement with them. While giving weight
[4:41] Speaker 1: to these public and private considerations the courts, the Courts
[4:45] Speaker 1: will require that the defendants make a prompt and reasonable
[4:49] Speaker 1: start toward full compliance with our May seventeenth, nineteen fifty
[4:53] Speaker 1: four ruling. Once such a start has been made, the
[4:57] Speaker 1: courts may find that additional time is no necessary to
[5:01] Speaker 1: carry out the ruling in an effective manner. The burden
[5:04] Speaker 1: rests upon the defendants to establish that such time is
[5:08] Speaker 1: necessary in the public interest and is consistent with good
[5:12] Speaker 1: faith compliance at the earliest practicable date. To that end,
[5:17] Speaker 1: the court may consider problems related to administration arising from
[5:21] Speaker 1: the physical condition of the school plant, the school transportation system, personnel,
[5:28] Speaker 1: revision of school districts, and attendance areas into compact units
[5:33] Speaker 1: to achieve a system of determining admission to the public
[5:37] Speaker 1: schools on a non racial basis, and revision of local
[5:41] Speaker 1: laws and regulations which may be necessary in solving the
[5:45] Speaker 1: foregoing problems. Under such circumstances, the district courts were directed
[5:49] Speaker 1: to require a prompt and reasonable start toward full compliance,
[5:55] Speaker 1: and to take such action as was necessary to bring
[5:58] Speaker 1: about the end of racial secs segregation in the public
[6:01] Speaker 1: schools with all deliberate speed. Of course, in many locations,
[6:07] Speaker 1: obedience to the duty of desegregation would require the immediate
[6:12] Speaker 1: general admission of Negro children otherwise qualified as students for
[6:17] Speaker 1: their appropriate classes at particular schools. On the other hand,
[6:22] Speaker 1: a district court, after analysis of the relevant factors, which
[6:26] Speaker 1: of course excludes hostility to racial desegregation, might conclude that
[6:32] Speaker 1: justification existed for not requiring the present non segregated admission
[6:38] Speaker 1: of all qualified Negro children. In such circumstances, however, the
[6:43] Speaker 1: court should scrutinize the program of the school authorities to
[6:47] Speaker 1: make sure that they had developed arrangements pointed toward the
[6:51] Speaker 1: earliest practicable completion of desegregation, and had taken appropriate steps
[6:57] Speaker 1: to put their program into effective operation. It was made
[7:01] Speaker 1: plain that delay in any guise in order to deny
[7:05] Speaker 1: the constitutional rights of Negro children could not be countenanced,
[7:10] Speaker 1: and that only a prompt start, diligently and earnestly pursued
[7:15] Speaker 1: to eliminate racial segregation from the public schools could constitute
[7:19] Speaker 1: good faith compliance. State authorities were thus duty bound to
[7:24] Speaker 1: devote every effort toward initiating desegregation and bringing about the
[7:30] Speaker 1: elimination of racial discrimination in the public school system. On
[7:35] Speaker 1: May twentieth, nineteen fifty four, three days after the first
[7:39] Speaker 1: Brown opinion, the Little Rock District School Board adopted and
[7:43] Speaker 1: on May twenty third, nineteen fifty four, made public a
[7:47] Speaker 1: statement of policy entitled Supreme Court Decision Segregation in Public Schools.
[7:54] Speaker 1: In this statement, the board recognized that it is our
[7:57] Speaker 1: responsibility to comply with federal or constitutional requirements, and we
[8:02] Speaker 1: intend to do so when the Supreme Court of the
[8:05] Speaker 1: United States outlines the method to be followed. Thereafter, the
[8:10] Speaker 1: board undertook studies of the administrative problems confronting the transition
[8:15] Speaker 1: to a desegregated public school system at Little Rock. It
[8:20] Speaker 1: instructed the Superintendent of Schools to prepare a plan for
[8:24] Speaker 1: desegregation and approve such a plan on May twenty fourth,
[8:28] Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five, seven days before the second Brown opinion.
[8:33] Speaker 1: The plan provided for desegregation at the senior high school
[8:38] Speaker 1: level grades ten through twelve, as the first stage desegregation
[8:43] Speaker 1: at the junior high in elementary levels was to follow.
[8:47] Speaker 1: It was contemplated that desegregation at the high school level
[8:51] Speaker 1: would commence in the fall of nineteen fifty seven, and
[8:54] Speaker 1: the expectation was that complete desegregation of the school system
[9:00] Speaker 1: would be accomplished by nineteen sixty three. Following the adoption
[9:04] Speaker 1: of this plan, the superintendent of schools discussed it with
[9:08] Speaker 1: a large number of citizen groups in the city. As
[9:11] Speaker 1: a result of these discussions, the board reached the conclusion
[9:16] Speaker 1: that a large majority of the residents of Little Rock
[9:19] Speaker 1: were of the belief that the plan, although objectionable in
[9:24] Speaker 1: principle from the point of view of those supporting segregated schools,
[9:29] Speaker 1: was still the best for the interests of all pupils
[9:33] Speaker 1: in the district. Upon challenge by a group of Negro
[9:37] Speaker 1: plaintiffs desiring more rapid completion of the desegregation process, the
[9:42] Speaker 1: district Court upheld the school board's plan. The Court of
[9:46] Speaker 1: Appeals affirmed review of that judgment was not sought here.
[9:52] Speaker 1: While the school Board was thus going forward with its
[9:55] Speaker 1: preparation for desegregating the Little Rock School System, other state authorities,
[10:00] Speaker 1: in contrast, were actively pursuing a program designed to perpetuate
[10:05] Speaker 1: in Arkansaw the system of racial segregation which this Court
[10:10] Speaker 1: had held violated. The Fourteenth Amendment first came in November
[10:15] Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six, an amendment to the state constitution flatly
[10:20] Speaker 1: commanding the Arkansas General Assembly to oppose in every constitutional
[10:26] Speaker 1: manner the unconstitutional desegregation decisions of May seventeen, nineteen fifty
[10:34] Speaker 1: four and May thirty one, nineteen fifty five of the
[10:38] Speaker 1: United States Supreme Court. Pursuant to this state constitutional command,
[10:44] Speaker 1: a law relieving school children from compulsory attendance at racially
[10:50] Speaker 1: mixed schools and a law establishing a state sovereignty Commission
[10:55] Speaker 1: were enacted by the General Assembly in February nineteen fifty seven.
[11:00] Speaker 1: The school Board and the Superintendent of Schools nevertheless continued
[11:05] Speaker 1: with preparations to carry out the first stage of the
[11:08] Speaker 1: desegregation program. Nine Negro children were scheduled for admission in
[11:14] Speaker 1: September nineteen fifty seven. To Central High School, which has
[11:18] Speaker 1: more than two thousand students. Various administrative measures designed to
[11:23] Speaker 1: assure the smooth transition of this first stage of desegregation
[11:28] Speaker 1: were undertaken. On September second, nineteen fifty seven, the day
[11:32] Speaker 1: before these Negro students were to enter Central High the
[11:36] Speaker 1: school authorities were met with drastic opposing action on the
[11:39] Speaker 1: part of the Governor of Arkansas, who dispatched units of
[11:43] Speaker 1: the Arkansas National Guard to the Central High School grounds
[11:48] Speaker 1: and placed the school off limits to colored students. As
[11:52] Speaker 1: found by the district court and subsequent proceedings, the governor's
[11:56] Speaker 1: action had not been requested by the school authority and
[12:00] Speaker 1: was entirely unheralded. The findings were these. Up to this
[12:05] Speaker 1: time September second, no crowds had gathered about Central High School,
[12:10] Speaker 1: and no acts of violence or threats of violence in
[12:13] Speaker 1: connection with the carrying out of the plan had occurred. Nevertheless,
[12:17] Speaker 1: out of an abundance of caution, the school authorities had
[12:20] Speaker 1: frequently conferred with the mayor and Chief of Police of
[12:24] Speaker 1: Little Rock about taking appropriate steps by the Little Rock
[12:27] Speaker 1: Police to prevent any possible disturbances or acts of violence
[12:32] Speaker 1: in connection with the attendance of the nine colored students
[12:36] Speaker 1: at Central High School. The mayor considered that the Little
[12:39] Speaker 1: Rock Police force could adequately cope with any incidents which
[12:44] Speaker 1: might arise at the opening of school. The Mayor, the
[12:47] Speaker 1: chief of Police, and the school authorities made no request
[12:50] Speaker 1: to the Governor or any representative of his for state
[12:54] Speaker 1: assistance in maintaining peace and order at Central High School.
[12:58] Speaker 1: Neither the Governor nor any other official of the state
[13:01] Speaker 1: government consulted with the Little Rock authorities about whether the
[13:06] Speaker 1: Little Rock Police were prepared to cope with any incidents
[13:09] Speaker 1: which might arise at the school, about any need for
[13:13] Speaker 1: state assistance in maintaining peace and order, or about stationing
[13:17] Speaker 1: the Arkansas National Guard at Central High School. The board's
[13:21] Speaker 1: petition for postponement in the preceding states. The effect of
[13:25] Speaker 1: that action of the Governor was to harden the core
[13:29] Speaker 1: of opposition to the plan and cause many persons who
[13:33] Speaker 1: theretofore had reluctantly accepted the plan to believe there was
[13:37] Speaker 1: some power in the State of Arkansas, which, when exerted,
[13:42] Speaker 1: could nullify the federal law and permit disobedience of the
[13:45] Speaker 1: decree of this District Court. And from that date hostility
[13:50] Speaker 1: to the plan was increased, and criticism of the officials
[13:54] Speaker 1: of the school district has become more bitter and unrestrained.
[13:59] Speaker 1: The governor's action caused the school board to request the
[14:02] Speaker 1: Negro students on September second, not to attend the high
[14:06] Speaker 1: school until the legal dilemma was solved. The next day,
[14:10] Speaker 1: September third, nineteen fifty seven, the board petitioned the district
[14:14] Speaker 1: Court for instructions, and the court, after a hearing, found
[14:19] Speaker 1: that the board's request of the Negro students to stay
[14:22] Speaker 1: away from the high school had been made because of
[14:25] Speaker 1: the stationing of the military guards by the state authorities.
[14:30] Speaker 1: The court determined that this was not a reason for
[14:32] Speaker 1: departing from the approved plan and ordered the school board
[14:37] Speaker 1: and superintendent to proceed with it. On the morning of
[14:40] Speaker 1: the next day, September fourth, nineteen fifty seven, the Negro
[14:44] Speaker 1: children attempted to enter the high school, but, as the
[14:47] Speaker 1: District Court later found, units of the Arkansas National Guard,
[14:52] Speaker 1: acting pursuant to the governor's order, stood shoulder to shoulder
[14:56] Speaker 1: at the school grounds and thereby forcibly prevented the nine
[15:01] Speaker 1: Negro students from entering. As they continued to do every
[15:05] Speaker 1: school day during the following three weeks. That same day,
[15:09] Speaker 1: September fourth, nineteen fifty seven, the United States Attorney for
[15:14] Speaker 1: the Eastern District of Arkansas was requested by the District
[15:17] Speaker 1: Court to begin an immediate investigation in order to fix
[15:21] Speaker 1: responsibility for the interference with the orderly implementation of the
[15:26] Speaker 1: District Court's direction to carry out the desegregation program. Three
[15:31] Speaker 1: days later, September seventh, the District Court denied a petition
[15:35] Speaker 1: of the school board and the Superintendent of Schools for
[15:39] Speaker 1: an order temporarily suspending continuance of the program. Upon completion
[15:45] Speaker 1: of the United States Attorney's investigation, he and the Attorney
[15:50] Speaker 1: General of the United States, at the District Court's request,
[15:54] Speaker 1: entered the proceedings and filed a petition on behalf of
[15:57] Speaker 1: the United States as a meeks cure to enjoin the
[16:01] Speaker 1: Governor of Arkansas and officers of the Arkansas National Guard
[16:06] Speaker 1: from further attempts to prevent obedience to the court's order.
[16:09] Speaker 1: After hearings on the petition, the District Court found that
[16:12] Speaker 1: the school board's plan had been obstructed by the governor
[16:16] Speaker 1: through the use of National Guard troops and granted a
[16:19] Speaker 1: preliminary injunction on September twentieth, nineteen fifty seven, and joining
[16:24] Speaker 1: the Governor and the officers of the Guard from preventing
[16:28] Speaker 1: the attendance of Negro children at Central High School and
[16:32] Speaker 1: from otherwise obstructing or interfering with the orders of the
[16:35] Speaker 1: Court in connection with the plan, The National Guard was
[16:39] Speaker 1: then withdrawn from the school. The next school day was Monday,
[16:42] Speaker 1: September twenty third, nineteen fifty seven. The Negro children entered
[16:47] Speaker 1: the high school that morning under the protection of the
[16:49] Speaker 1: Little Rock Police Department and members of the Arkansas State Police,
[16:54] Speaker 1: but the officers caused the children to be removed from
[16:58] Speaker 1: the school during the morning because they had difficulty controlling
[17:02] Speaker 1: a large and demonstrating crowd which had gathered at the
[17:06] Speaker 1: high school. On September twenty fifth, however, the President of
[17:10] Speaker 1: the United States dispatched federal troops to Central High School,
[17:15] Speaker 1: and admission of the Negro students to the school was
[17:19] Speaker 1: thereby affected. Regular Army troops continued at the high school
[17:23] Speaker 1: until November twenty seventh, nineteen fifty seven. They were then
[17:28] Speaker 1: replaced by federalized National guardsmen, who remained throughout the balance
[17:34] Speaker 1: of the school year. Eight of the Negro students remained
[17:38] Speaker 1: in attendance at the school throughout the school year. We
[17:42] Speaker 1: come now to the aspect of the proceedings presently before us.
[17:47] Speaker 1: On February twentieth, nineteen fifty eight, the school board and
[17:51] Speaker 1: the Superintendent of Schools filed a petition in the District
[17:55] Speaker 1: Court seeking a postponement of their program for desegregation. Their
[18:00] Speaker 1: position in essence was that because of extreme public hostility,
[18:05] Speaker 1: which they stated had been engendered largely by the official
[18:08] Speaker 1: attitudes and actions of the governor and the legislature, the
[18:13] Speaker 1: maintenance of a sound educational program at Central High School
[18:17] Speaker 1: with the Negro students in attendance would be impossible. The
[18:21] Speaker 1: board therefore proposed that the Negro students already admitted to
[18:25] Speaker 1: the school be withdrawn and sent to segregated schools, and
[18:29] Speaker 1: that all further steps to carry out the board's desegregation
[18:33] Speaker 1: program be postponed for a period later suggested by the
[18:38] Speaker 1: board to be two and one half years. After a hearing,
[18:42] Speaker 1: the District Court granted the relief requested by the board.
[18:45] Speaker 1: Among other things, the court found that the past year
[18:48] Speaker 1: at Central High School had been attended by conditions of chaos,
[18:53] Speaker 1: bedlam and turmoil, That there were repeated incidents of more
[18:57] Speaker 1: or less serious violence to directed against the Negro students
[19:01] Speaker 1: and their property. That there was tension and unrest among
[19:06] Speaker 1: the school administrators, the classroom teachers, the pupils, and the
[19:11] Speaker 1: latter's parents, which inevitably had an adverse effect upon the
[19:16] Speaker 1: educational program. That a school official was threatened with violence.
[19:20] Speaker 1: That a serious financial burden had been cast on the
[19:23] Speaker 1: school district. That the education of the students had suffered
[19:28] Speaker 1: and under existing conditions, will continue to suffer. That the
[19:32] Speaker 1: board would continue to need military assistance or its equivalent,
[19:37] Speaker 1: That the local police department would not be able to
[19:39] Speaker 1: detail enough men to afford the necessary protection, and that
[19:44] Speaker 1: the situation was intolerable. The District Court's judgment was dated
[19:49] Speaker 1: June twentieth, nineteen fifty eight. The Negro respondents appealed to
[19:53] Speaker 1: the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and also
[19:56] Speaker 1: sought there a stay of the District Court's judgment at
[19:59] Speaker 1: the s the same time, they filed a petition for
[20:02] Speaker 1: SERCIARIRII in this court, asking us to review the District
[20:06] Speaker 1: Court's judgment without awaiting the disposition of their appeal to
[20:10] Speaker 1: the Court of Appeals or of their petition to that
[20:13] Speaker 1: court for stay that we declined to do. The Court
[20:17] Speaker 1: of Appeals did not act on the petition for stay,
[20:20] Speaker 1: but on August eighteenth, nineteen fifty eight, after convening in
[20:24] Speaker 1: special session on August fourth and hearing the appeal, reversed
[20:29] Speaker 1: the District Court. On August twenty first, nineteen fifty eight,
[20:33] Speaker 1: the Court of Appeals stayed its mandate to permit the
[20:37] Speaker 1: school board to petition this court for cerciarii, pending the
[20:41] Speaker 1: filing of the school Board's petition for cerciarari The Negro
[20:45] Speaker 1: respondence on August twenty third, nineteen fifty eight, applied to
[20:49] Speaker 1: Mister Justice Whittaker, as Circuit Justice for the Eighth Circuit,
[20:53] Speaker 1: to stay the order of the Court of Appeals withholding
[20:57] Speaker 1: its own mandate and also to day the District Court's judgment.
[21:02] Speaker 1: In view of the nature of the motions, he referred
[21:06] Speaker 1: them to the entire court, recognizing the vital importance of
[21:10] Speaker 1: a decision of the issues in time to permit arrangements
[21:13] Speaker 1: to be made for the nineteen fifty eighth nineteen fifty
[21:17] Speaker 1: nine school year. We convened in special term on August
[21:22] Speaker 1: twenty eighth, nineteen fifty eight, and heard oral argument on
[21:27] Speaker 1: the respondent's motions and also argument of the Solicitor General,
[21:31] Speaker 1: who by invitation appeared for the United States as amikus curie,
[21:37] Speaker 1: and asserted that the Court of Appeal's judgment was clearly
[21:40] Speaker 1: correct on the merits and urged that we vacate its
[21:44] Speaker 1: stay forthwith, finding that respondent's application necessarily involved consideration of
[21:50] Speaker 1: the merits of the litigation, we entered an order which
[21:53] Speaker 1: deferred decision upon the motions, pending the disposition of the
[21:58] Speaker 1: school board's petition for and fixed September eighth, nineteen fifty
[22:04] Speaker 1: eight as the day on or before which such petition
[22:08] Speaker 1: might be filed, and September eleventh, nineteen fifty eight for
[22:12] Speaker 1: oral argument upon the petition. The petition for Sirciarai duly
[22:17] Speaker 1: filed was granted an open court on September eleventh, nineteen
[22:22] Speaker 1: fifty eight, and further arguments were had, the Solicitor General
[22:26] Speaker 1: again urging the correctness of the judgment of the Court
[22:30] Speaker 1: of Appeals. On September twelfth, nineteen fifty eight, as already mentioned,
[22:35] Speaker 1: we unanimously affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals
[22:40] Speaker 1: in the Percureum opinion set forth in the margin at
[22:43] Speaker 1: the outset of this opinion. In affirming the judgment of
[22:47] Speaker 1: the Court of Appeals which reversed the District Court, we
[22:50] Speaker 1: have accepted without reservation, the position of the school Board,
[22:54] Speaker 1: the Superintendent of Schools, and their council that they displayed
[22:58] Speaker 1: entire good faith in the conduct of these proceedings and
[23:03] Speaker 1: in dealing with the unfortunate and distressing sequence of events
[23:07] Speaker 1: which has been outlined. We likewise have accepted the findings
[23:12] Speaker 1: of the District Court as to the conditions at Central
[23:15] Speaker 1: High School during the nineteen fifty seven nineteen fifty eight
[23:20] Speaker 1: school year, and also the findings that the educational progress
[23:24] Speaker 1: of all the students, white and colored of that school
[23:28] Speaker 1: has suffered and will continue to suffer, if the conditions
[23:31] Speaker 1: which prevailed last year are permitted to continue, the significance
[23:36] Speaker 1: of these findings, however, is to be considered in light
[23:39] Speaker 1: of the fact, indisputably revealed by the record before us,
[23:43] Speaker 1: that the conditions they depict are directly traceable to the
[23:47] Speaker 1: actions of legislators and executive officials of the State of
[23:52] Speaker 1: Arkansas taken in their official capacities, which reflect their own
[23:56] Speaker 1: determination to resist this Court's decision in the Brown case,
[24:02] Speaker 1: and which have brought about violent resistance to that decision
[24:05] Speaker 1: in Arkansas. In its petition for Serchiari filed in this court,
[24:10] Speaker 1: the school board itself describes the situation in this language.
[24:15] Speaker 1: The legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the state government
[24:20] Speaker 1: opposed the desegregation of Little Rock schools by enacting laws,
[24:25] Speaker 1: calling out troops, making statements of vilifying federal law and
[24:29] Speaker 1: federal courts, and failing to utilize state law enforcement agencies
[24:34] Speaker 1: and judicial processes to maintain public peace. One may well
[24:40] Speaker 1: sympathize with the position of the board in the face
[24:43] Speaker 1: of the frustrating conditions which have confronted it, But regardless
[24:47] Speaker 1: of the Board's good faith, the actions of the other
[24:50] Speaker 1: state agencies responsible for those conditions compel us to reject
[24:55] Speaker 1: the board's legal position. Had Central High School been under
[24:58] Speaker 1: the direct management of the state itself, it could hardly
[25:02] Speaker 1: be suggested that those immediately in charge of the school
[25:06] Speaker 1: should be heard to assert their own good faith as
[25:09] Speaker 1: a legal excuse for delay in implementing the constitutional rights
[25:14] Speaker 1: of these respondents when vindication of those rights was rendered
[25:18] Speaker 1: difficult or impossible by the actions of other state officials.
[25:24] Speaker 1: The situation here is no different posture. Because the members
[25:28] Speaker 1: of the school board and the Superintendent of Schools are
[25:32] Speaker 1: local officials. From the point of view of the Fourteenth Amendment,
[25:35] Speaker 1: they stand in this litigation as the agents of the state.
[25:39] Speaker 1: The constitutional rights of respondents are not to be sacrificed
[25:43] Speaker 1: or yielded to the violence and disorder which have followed
[25:47] Speaker 1: upon the actions of the governor and legislature. As this
[25:51] Speaker 1: Court said some forty one years ago in a unanimous
[25:54] Speaker 1: opinion in a case involving another aspect of racial segregation,
[25:59] Speaker 1: it has urged that this proposed segregation will promote the
[26:02] Speaker 1: public peace by preventing race conflicts. Desirable as this is,
[26:07] Speaker 1: and important as is the preservation of the public peace,
[26:11] Speaker 1: the same cannot be accomplished by laws or ordinances which
[26:15] Speaker 1: deny rights created or protected by the Federal Constitution. Thus,
[26:20] Speaker 1: law and order are not here to be preserved by
[26:23] Speaker 1: depriving the Negro children of their constitutional rights. The record
[26:28] Speaker 1: before us clearly establishes that the growth of the board's
[26:32] Speaker 1: difficulties to a magnitude beyond its unaided power to control,
[26:37] Speaker 1: is the product of state action. Those difficulties, as counsel
[26:42] Speaker 1: for the Board forthrightly conceded on the oral argument in
[26:45] Speaker 1: this Court, can also be brought under control by state action.
[26:51] Speaker 1: The controlling legal principles are plain. The command of the
[26:54] Speaker 1: Fourteenth Amendment is that no state shall deny to any
[26:58] Speaker 1: person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
[27:02] Speaker 1: A state acts by its legislative, its executive, or its
[27:06] Speaker 1: judicial authorities, it can act in no other way. The
[27:10] Speaker 1: constitutional provision therefore must mean that no agency of the state,
[27:15] Speaker 1: or of the officers or agents by whom its powers
[27:18] Speaker 1: are exerted, shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction
[27:22] Speaker 1: the equal protection of the laws. Whoever, by virtue of
[27:26] Speaker 1: public position under a state government, denies or takes away
[27:30] Speaker 1: the equal protection of the laws violates the constitutional inhibition.
[27:35] Speaker 1: And as he acts in the name and for the state,
[27:38] Speaker 1: and is clothed with the state's power, his act is
[27:42] Speaker 1: that of the state. This must be so, or the
[27:45] Speaker 1: constitutional prohibition has no meaning. Thus, the prohibitions of the
[27:49] Speaker 1: Fourteenth Amendment extend to all action of the state denying
[27:53] Speaker 1: equal protection of the laws, whatever the agency of the
[27:57] Speaker 1: state taking the action, or whatever the god in which
[28:00] Speaker 1: it is taken. In short, the constitutional rights of children
[28:04] Speaker 1: not to be discriminated against in school admission on grounds
[28:08] Speaker 1: of race or color, declared by this Court in the
[28:11] Speaker 1: Brown case, can neither be nullified openly and directly by
[28:15] Speaker 1: state legislators or state executives or judicial officers, nor nullified
[28:21] Speaker 1: indirectly by them through evasive schemes for segregation, whether attempted
[28:27] Speaker 1: ingeniously or ingenuously. What has been said, in the light
[28:32] Speaker 1: of the facts developed is enough to dispose of the case. However,
[28:37] Speaker 1: we should answer the premise of the actions of the
[28:39] Speaker 1: governor and legislature that they are not bound by our
[28:43] Speaker 1: holding in the Brown case. It is necessary only to
[28:46] Speaker 1: recall some basic constitutional propositions which are settled. Doctrine Article
[28:52] Speaker 1: six of the Constitution makes the Constitution the supreme law
[28:56] Speaker 1: of the land. An eighteen o three Chief Justice Marshal,
[29:00] Speaker 1: speaking for a unanimous court, referring to the Constitution as
[29:04] Speaker 1: the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, declared in
[29:08] Speaker 1: the notable case of Marbury versus Madison, that it is
[29:12] Speaker 1: emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to
[29:17] Speaker 1: say what the law is. This decision declared the basic
[29:21] Speaker 1: principle that the Federal Judiciary is supreme in the exposition
[29:26] Speaker 1: of the law of the Constitution, and that principle has
[29:29] Speaker 1: ever since been respected by this Court and the country
[29:34] Speaker 1: as a permanent and indispensable feature of our constitutional system.
[29:39] Speaker 1: It follows that the interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment enunciated
[29:43] Speaker 1: by this Court in the Brown case is the supreme
[29:47] Speaker 1: law of the land. An Article six of the Constitution
[29:51] Speaker 1: makes it of binding effect on the States anything in
[29:56] Speaker 1: the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary. Notwithstanding,
[30:02] Speaker 1: every state legislator, an executive, and judicial officer is solemnly
[30:06] Speaker 1: committed by oath taken pursuant to Article six, paragraph three,
[30:12] Speaker 1: to support this Constitution. Chief Justice Tawny, speaking for a
[30:18] Speaker 1: unanimous Court in eighteen fifty nine, said that this requirement
[30:22] Speaker 1: reflected the framer's anxiety to preserve it the Constitution in
[30:28] Speaker 1: full force in all its powers, and to guard against
[30:32] Speaker 1: resistance to or evasion of its authority on the part
[30:36] Speaker 1: of a state. No state legislator, or executive or judicial
[30:40] Speaker 1: officer can war against the Constitution without violating his undertaking
[30:45] Speaker 1: to support it. Chief Justice Marshall spoke for a unanimous
[30:49] Speaker 1: court in saying that if the legislatures of the several
[30:53] Speaker 1: States may at will annull the judgments of the courts
[30:57] Speaker 1: of the United States and destroy the rights of acquired
[31:00] Speaker 1: under those judgments, the Constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery.
[31:06] Speaker 1: A governor who asserts a power to nullify a federal
[31:09] Speaker 1: court order is similarly restrained if he had such power,
[31:14] Speaker 1: said Chief Justice Hughes in nineteen thirty two. Also for
[31:19] Speaker 1: a unanimous court, it is manifest that the fiat of
[31:23] Speaker 1: a state governor, and not the Constitution of the United States,
[31:27] Speaker 1: would be the supreme law of the land, that the
[31:30] Speaker 1: restrictions of the Federal Constitution upon the exercise of state
[31:34] Speaker 1: power would be but impotent phrases. It is, of course
[31:38] Speaker 1: quite true that the responsibility for public education is primarily
[31:43] Speaker 1: the concern of the states. But it is equally true
[31:46] Speaker 1: that such responsibilities, like all other state activity, must be
[31:50] Speaker 1: exercised consistently with federal constitutional requirements as they apply to
[31:55] Speaker 1: state action. The Constitution created a government dedicated to equal
[32:00] Speaker 1: justice under law. The Fourteenth Amendment embodied and emphasized that
[32:04] Speaker 1: ideal state support of segregated schools through any arrangement management
[32:10] Speaker 1: funds or property cannot be squared with the Amendments command
[32:14] Speaker 1: that no state shall deny to any person within its
[32:17] Speaker 1: jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The right of
[32:21] Speaker 1: a student not to be segregated on racial grounds in
[32:24] Speaker 1: schools so maintained is indeed so fundamental and pervasive that
[32:29] Speaker 1: it is embraced in the concept of due process of law.
[32:33] Speaker 1: The basic decision in Brown was unanimously reached by this
[32:37] Speaker 1: Court only after the case had been briefed and twice argued,
[32:41] Speaker 1: and the issues had been given the most serious consideration.
[32:45] Speaker 1: Since the first Brown opinion, three new justices have come
[32:49] Speaker 1: to the Court. They are at one with the justices
[32:52] Speaker 1: still on the Court who participated in that basic decision
[32:56] Speaker 1: as to its correctness, and that decision is now unanimously reaffirmed.
[33:01] Speaker 1: The principles announced in that decision, and the obedience of
[33:06] Speaker 1: the states to them according to the command of the Constitution,
[33:10] Speaker 1: are indispensable for the protection of the freedoms guaranteed by
[33:14] Speaker 1: our fundamental charter for all of us. Our constitutional ideal
[33:20] Speaker 1: of equal justice under law is thus made a living truth.
[33:26] Speaker 1: End of cooper versus Erin an opinion of the United
[33:31] Speaker 1: States Supreme Court,

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