Evening star., 1950-06-06

this court will decide constitutional
questions only when necessary to
the disposition of the case at hand
and that such decisions will be
drawn as narrowly as possible.
Because Of this traditional reluc-
tance to extend constitutional in
terpretations to situations or facts
which are not before the court
much of the excellent research and
detailed argument presented in these
cases is unnecessary to their dispo-
sition. -.
Since the trial of this case, re-
spondents report the opening of a
law school at the Texas State Uni
versity for Negroes. 1t is apparently
on the road to full accreditation
It has a faculty of five fun-time pro-
fessors; a student body of %; a
library of some 16,500 volumes serv-
iced by full-time staff; a practice
court and legal aid association; and
one alumnus who has become a
member of the Texas Bar.
Whether the University of Texas
Law School is compared with the
original or the new law school for
Negroes, we cannot find substan-
tial equality in the educational op-
portunities offered white and Negro
law students by the State. In terms
of number of the faculty, variety OF
courses and opportunity for spe-
cialization, size of the student body
scope of the library, availability OF
law review and similar activities
the University of Texas Law School
is superior.
What is more important, the Uni
versity of Texas Law School pos
sesses to a far greater degree those
qualities which are incapable OF
objective measurement but which
make for greatness in law school
Such qualities, to name but a few
include reputation of the faculty
experience of the administration
position and influence of the alumni
standing in the community, tradi-
tons and prestige. It is difficult to
believe that one who had a free
choice between these law schools
would consider the question close.
Law q Practical Profession.
Moreover, although the law is a
highly learned profession, we are
well aware that it is an intensely
practical one. The law school, the
proving ground for legal learning
and practice, cannot be effective in
isolation from the individuals and
institutions with which the law in
teracts. Few students and no one
who has practiced law would choose
to study in an academic vacuum, re-
from the interplay of ideas
and the exchange Of views with
which the law is concerned.
The law school to which Texas
is willing to admit petitioner ex-
cludes from its student body mem
bers of the racial groups which
number IS per cent of the popula-
ton of the State and include most
of the lawyers, witnesses, jurors,
judges and other officials with whom
petitioner will inevitably be dealing
when he becomes member of the
Texas Bar. With such a substantial
and significant segment of society
excluded, we cannot conclude that
the education offered petitioner is
substantially equal to that which
he would receive If admitted to
the University of Texas Law School
1t may be argued that excluding
petitioner from that school is nc
different from excluding white stu
dents from the new law school. This
contention overlooks realities. It Is
unlikely that a member of a group
so decisively in the majority. at
tending school with rich tradi-
tions and prestige which only his
tory Of consistently maintained ex-
cellence could command, would
claim that the opportunities af-
forded him for legal education were
unequal to those held open to petit
toner. That such a claim, If made
would be dishonored by the State
is no answer. Equal protection oi
the laws is not achieved through
indiscriminate imposition of in.
equalities."
It is fundamental that these cases
concern rights which are personal
and present. This court has stated
unanimously lin 1Q48) that '"The
State must provide Qegal education)
for (petitioneD in conformity with
the equal protection clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment and provide