Petitioners, whose petition for certiorari seeks review of a
Court of Appeals ruling authorizing a delay in student
desegregation in three Louisiana school districts until September
1970, are -- pending disposition of their petition -- granted
temporary injunctive relief requiring the respondent school boards
to take the necessary preliminary steps to effectuate complete
student desegregation by February 1, 1970.
Alexander v. Holmes
County Board of Education, ante, p.
396 U. S. 19.
See 419 F.2d 1211. Application granted and judgment
vacated in part.
PER CURIAM.
This matter reaches the Court on an application presented to MR.
JUSTICE BLACK, as circuit Justice for the Fifth circuit, seeking a
temporary injunctive order and other relief, and it appearing
that
l. Three cases were originally filed in 1965, seeking the
desegregation of three Louisiana school districts.
2. Pursuant to orders of the District Courts, in July of this
year, the Office of Education of the United states Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare prepared and submitted terminal
desegregation plans for each of the districts here involved for the
school year 1969-1970. These plans were rejected by the District
Courts.
3. The District Courts' orders were reversed by the United
states Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,
Page 396 U. S. 227
sitting en banc, on December 1, 1969, subsequent to this Court's
decision in
Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education,
ante at
396 U. S. 19. That
court ordered respondent school boards and 13 other school boards
to desegregate faculties completely and to adopt plans for
conversion to unitary school systems by February 1, 1970, but
authorized a delay in pupil desegregation until September,
1970.
4. On December 10, 1969, petitioners filed in this Court a
petition for a writ of certiorari, together with a motion to
advance consideration of the petition and a motion for summary
disposition, contending that the decision of the Court of Appeals
is inconsistent with this Court's decision in
Alexander v.
Holmes County Board of Education, supra. The relief sought on
the merits is the implementation of the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare plans for student assignment on or before
February 1, 1970, simultaneous with the other steps ordered by the
Court of Appeals.
5. Petitioners, by this application seek a temporary injunctive
order
"requiring the respondent school boards, pending a decision by
this Court on the merits, to take all necessary clerical and
administrative steps -- such as determining new student
assignments, bus routes and athletic schedules and preparing for
any necessary physical change preparatory to complete conversion
under the HEW plans by February 1, 1970. If petitioners are
successful, the administrative and clerical tasks necessary to
conversion will have been undertaken roughly according to the
timetable established by the court below in the
Alexander
cases, and petitioners' right to effective relief will not have
been put in question by the passage of time. If petitioners are
unsuccessful in this Court, the school boards would be under no
compulsion to
Page 396 U. S. 228
convert during this school year."
Application to the Honorable Hugo L. Black, Circuit Justice for
the Fifth Circuit, for a Temporary Injunctive Order 3-4. (Footnote
omitted.)
It is hereby adjudged, ordered, and decreed:
(1) Petitioners' application for a temporary injunctive order
requiring the respondent school boards to take such preliminary
steps as may be necessary to prepare for complete student
desegregation by February 1, 1970, is granted.
Alexander v.
Holmes County Board of Education, supra.
(2) By way of interim relief, and pending this Court's
disposition of the petition for certiorari, the judgment of the
Court of Appeals is vacated insofar as it deferred desegregation of
schools until the school year 1970-1971.
(3) By way of interim relief pending further order of this
Court, the respondent school boards are directed to take no steps
which are inconsistent with, or which will tend to prejudice or
delay, a schedule to implement on or before February 1, 1970,
desegregation plans submitted by the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare for student assignment simultaneous with the
other steps ordered by the Court of Appeals.
(4) The respondents are directed to file any response to the
petition herein on or before January 2, 1970.