Evening star., 1955-03-23
Full Court 10 Hear
Segregation Cases
Beginning April II
By Robert <. Welsh

A fun Supreme Court bench
of nine Justices will finally hear
long-delayed oral arguments be-
ginning Monday. April II. on
suggested methods and time
tables for ending racial segrega-
tion in public schools.
In a unanimous decision last
May II the tribunal settled the
school segregation issue. 1t de-
clared such separation OF the
races to be unconstitutional. even
If separate educational facilities
for Negro and white pupils were
substantially equal.
In connection with specific
cases from the District. Virginia.
South Carolina. Delaware and
Kansas. it called for additional
argument on the kind Of DEGREES
that should be issued on the how
and when of putting integration
into effect.
Delayed Four Months.
The death of Justice jackson
last October and the Senate de-
lay since last November in acting
on President Eisenhower's nom
ination of Judge John M. Har-
Ian to fill the vacancy caused
the court to postpone the argu-
ments that had been set Tor
the week beginning December 8.
Clerk Harold B. Wiley an
nounced late yesterday that they
will be heard starting April II
and take up most of that week.
Judge Harlan, confirmed by
the Senate last Wednesday, will
take his seat as an Associate
Justice when the court returns
from a two-week recess Mon
day. The 55-year-old juriSt. a
native Of Chicago, was long a
prominent lawyer in New York
and since February, 1854, q
Judge on the United States Court
of Appeals there. He will for
mally take his place on the Su-
preme Court after the traditional
oath in the justices conference
room and the judicial oath in
open court.
He thus will become the Sec
ond Justice John Marshall Har-
Ian. The first. his grandfather, |
served for many years. One Of |
his most famous pronounce
ments was the dissenting opin-
ion in the 1896 decision that up
held the so-called separate but
equal facilities" doctrine in a
racial segregation case.
Will BE Busy |
8 The new Justice Harlan will |
have an unusually busy begin
ming. Besides scheduling the
segregation cases the court also
announced that on April 4 and
5 it will hear arguments in three
other cases that had been de-
ferred until a full bench was
available.
Those involve appeals by julius
Emspak and Thomas Qainn, Off
cials of the left-wing United |
Electrical Workers, and Philip |
Bart, an official of the Commu-
mist newspaper Daily Worker,
from contempt OF Congress
charges for refusal to answer
questions of the House Commit
tee on Un-American Activities.
20 Other Cases
The court will hear arguments
all next week on about 90 other
cases previously accepted for re-
view. During the week of April
18 it plans to hear another
batch of cases. tentatively in
Guiding the Peters case challeng-
in gthe Government loyalty pro-
gram. Ordinarily the court ends
its term early in June. In view of
the backlog of litigation, the
court might decide to prolong
the term for another two or three
weeks
AS for the school cases. the
court last October and early No
Vember received numerous and
volumlnous written legal briefs
from proponents and opponents
of school segregation as well as
from the Justice Department and
others. They will be the basis
for oral arguments starting
April IL. These differed often
on exactly how and how soon
the May II decision should be
impl emented. Many of the briefs
suggested a gradual transition
and proposed that the Supreme
Court order lower Federal courts
to work out details of desegre-
cation processes.