Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Brown II), 349 U.S. 294 

Supreme Court of the United States

1955

Chapter

5

Title

Equality and the Constitution

Page

472

Topic

Slavery, Jim Crow, and the Equal Protection Principal

Quick Notes

The Supreme Court ordered a rehearing in the case to determine appropriate relief for violation of the African-American students' equal protection rights.

Rule

o         Due to varying local conditions, the lower courts shall be responsible for overseeing the implementation of Brown, which may not be practical to implement immediately, but nonetheless shall take place with deliberate speed.

Application

o         The lower courts were given jurisdiction to see that the courts previous order in the Brown 1954 is carried out deliberately but with all possible speed.

Holding - "All deliberate speed"

o         A plaintiff whose constitutional rights have been violated by state action would normally be entitled to immediate relief.

o         But, apparently because it feared the chaos and violence that might develop if attempts were made to carry out desegregation instantly, the Court authorized the district courts to take into account the public interest in eliminating desegregation "in a systematic and effective manner."

o         However, the burden of proving any need for delay was placed upon the school boards, and the lower courts were ordered to implement desegregation "with all deliberate speed."

Book Name

Constitutional Law : Stone, Seidman, Sunstein, Tushnet.  ISBN:  978-0-7355-7719-0

Issue

o         What is the appropriate relief to be given the African American students for the schools' violation of their equal protection rights?  Immediate relief, but with all possible speed.

Procedure

Supreme

o         The court reversed the lower courts' judgments, with the exception of the Delaware case, and remanded the cases to the lower courts to take action that was necessary and proper to admit parties to public schools on a racially nondiscriminatory basis. The judgment in the Delaware case was affirmed and remanded for further proceedings.

Facts

Discussion

Key Phrases

Rules

Pl Brown

Df Board of Education

Description

o          In the 1954 Brown decision, the Court declared that separate educational facilities for African American and white school children violated equal protection.

o         The Court recognized that local conditions requested further argument on the question of relief.  Full implementation of constitutional principles required solutions varied to local school problems. 

o         The Court was guided by traditional attributes of equity power.

o         The Court seems to recognize the widespread resistance that its order would generate.

o         The Court also recognizes that some places would be more resistant than others, and thus allows the local courts to deal with each case individually

Justice Warren

You must yield to the Brown Decision

o         All state and local provisions requiring or permitting discrimination in public education must yield to the 1954 Brown Decision.

Require varied local solution and local responsibility

o         Full implementation of the principles of Brown I may require varied local solutions.

o         School authorities are to have primary responsibility for implementing these solutions, and the courts will have to consider whether the action of school authorities constitutes a good faith implementation of governing constitutional principles.

o         Therefore, we remand these cases to the courts that originally heard them.

o         The courts will be guided by equitable principles in overseeing the implementation.

o         Traditionally, equity has been characterized by a practical flexibility in shaping its remedies and by a facility for adjusting and reconciling public and private needs.

Transition Obstacles to Overcome

o         There may be many obstacles to overcome in the transition to school systems operating in accordance with Brown I, and Courts of equity may properly take into account the public interest in eliminating such obstacles.

Constitutional principles cannot yield

o         However, it should go without saying that the vitality of these constitutional principles cannot yield simply because of disagreement with them.

Schools should make a prompt and reasonable start

o         The courts will require that the schools (D) make a prompt and reasonable start toward full compliance with Brown I, and may allow additional time to carry out the ruling effectively.

Burden on school prove additional time needed

o         The burden shall be on the schools (D) to prove that such additional time is necessary. During the transition to integrated schools, the courts shall retain jurisdiction over these cases.

Court - Holding

o         These cases are remanded to the lower courts to take such proceedings and enter such orders and decrees consistent with this opinion as are necessary and proper to admit to public schools on a racially nondiscriminatory basis with all deliberate speed the parties to these cases.

Rules

Rule

o         Due to varying local conditions, the lower courts shall be responsible for overseeing the implementation of Brown, which may not be practical to implement immediately, but nonetheless shall take place with deliberate speed.

Application

o         The lower courts were given jurisdiction to see that the courts previous order in the Brown 1954 is carried out deliberately but with all possible speed.

Class Notes