Evening star., 1950-02-15
Appellate Court
UphoIds System of
Separating Races
By WilIiom G. Pollard

pedlS lullIlS III 1dVOr OF Cne dual
racial system in the Districts S
public schools will be carried to
the Supreme Court as soon as
possible. attorneys said today.
Acting on two cases yesterday
the appellate court, in a 2-to-1
decision, held that the segregated
facilities did not treat Negroes
unfairly.
1t cited Supreme Court decisions
and declared the high court has
consistently held that if there be
an equality of the privileges which
the laws give to the separated
groups the races may be sepa-
rated"
THAT is to say" the majority
opinion explained, that the con-
stitutional invalidity does not
arise from the mere fact of sepa-
ration, but may arise from an in
equality Of treatment"
Edgerton Writes Dissent.
Judge Henry w. Edgerton, dis
senting from the majority opinion
OF Judges E. Barrett Prettyman
and Bennett Champ Clark, de-
clared he did not believe colored
pupils have educational oppor-
tunities equal to those enjoyed by
whites.
Throughout the public school
system Negro children are denied
equal schooling because of their
color" Judge Edgerton declared.
Belford V. Lawson, jr., who with
Leon A. Ransom, represented stu
dents and parents attacking school
segregation, said they planned an
immediate appeal to the Supreme
Court.
Similar Cases Already Pending.
Two similar school cases from
Texas and Oklahoma are sched-
uled for Supreme Court argu-
ments this year, as is another
appeal involving racial segrega-
ton on railroad dining cars.
Mr.. Lawson said he would CEN
ter on the basic argument in the
railroad case because it provides
a clear-cut test of the so-called
separate but equal facilities"
doctrine.
The Court of Appeals opinion
written by Judge Prettyman up
held District Court dismissal of
a suit brought in behalf of COL
ored public school pupils. It also
affirmed a District Court sum-
mary Judgment for school officials
in a second case. Both were
brought in behalf of Browne Jun
Tor High School pupils, claiming
they were denied facilities equal
to those given in schools for white
students.
Commenting on the cases, the
majority opinion said:
so far as the facts and Cir
cumstances shown by this record
are concerned, it appears that the
treatment accorded these Negro
plaintiffs, of which they complain,
would have been accorded them
had they been white"
Population Shift Cited.
The majority opinion, discuss
ing school appropriations and
shifts of populations, pointed out
that it takes time to build up
school facilities to take care OF
certain situations.
The court then went on to point
out efforts being made to build
UP school facilities for the two
races.
Elsewhere, the majority opinion
stated:
1T is urged that the separa-
ton of the races is itself, apart
from equality or inequality o1
treatment forbidden by the Con-
stitution. The question thus posed
is whether the Constitution lifted
this problem out of the hand OF
all legislatures and settled it. We
do not think it did," the opinion
added.
Among complaints in the lower
court was that the Browne Junior
High School was overcrowded and
objections were made to use of
other schools as annexes, to
Browne. One of the plaintiffs was
a 13-year-old colored girl, who, in
1947, sought the right to enroll
In the white Junior high school.
CardozO Facilities Stressed.
When the appeals were argued
however, a girl plaintiff, Mar
guerite Carr, then was attending
Cardozo, "a senior colored high
school, on a shift schedule" de-
clared Judge Edgerton in his dis
senting opinion. Judge Edgerton
said:
Their exclusion from Eastern
High School "a white SCHOOL,
handicaps Cardozo students ir
these respects" Eastern" added
Judge Edgerton, "has a site of III
acres. Sardozo has a site of less
than / acre. Cardozo is closely
hemmed in on all sides by streets
It has no playground or recrea-
tional facilities. Eastern has 6
modern building. The Cardozc
plant was built about 1905. 1t was
abandoned as white business
high school in 1941."
Judge Edgerton added "Cardozs
students have been handicapped
by overcrowding."
After enumerating other way
in which his dissenting opinion
held that colored schools have
failed to come up to schools fol
white children, Judge Edgertor
concluded:
"It is sometimes suggested thai
due process of law cannot require
what law cannot enforce. No such
suggestion is relevant here. Wher
United States courts order inte.
grafton of District of Columbis
schools, they will be integrated
It has been too long forgotten