Evening star., 1963-05-23
Defiant Governor

In the face of final Federal court
order opening the University of Alabama
to two Negroes, Governor George Wal
lace remains utterly defiant.
He has said he will be present to
bar the entrance of any Negro who
attempts to enroll. And he added: "ThiS
is legal resistance and legal defiance" i"
We think this is sheerest nonsense.
OF course if Mr.. Wallace really believes
he has a constitutional basis on which
to stand, and he says he intends to raise
previously untried (and unspecified)
constitutional questions, he has as much
right as anyone else to do so. He must
also expect, however, to be held strictly
to account when the time comes to face
the consequences.
The example which the Governor is
setting invites breakdown of law and
order in Alabama. His appeal is to those
who may be tempted to invoke violence,
and the Alabama attorney general has
said that defiance of Federal court
orders may lead to violence. If this
should prove to be the case, there is no
doubt as to where responsibility will rest.
1t will rest squarely on the head Of
Governor George Wallace.
1t is very doubtful, however, that
the shameful episode at the University
of Mississippi will be repeated at the
University of Alabama For as we read
the Presidents words at his news con-.
ference, this time he intends to be the
one who "getS there fuSteSt with the
moSteSt." This certainly is one reason
why Federal troops have been moved
into Alabama, and, if need arises, the
President will not hesitate to use them.
1t is his duty to enforce the lawful orders
Of the courts, and he will not shrink
from doing it.
Nevertheless, Governor Wallace may
go through with his threat, although
how he proposes to do it raises an inter-
eSting question. Both Negroes are to
enroll on June 10. But one will appear
at the main university at Tuscaloosa
and the other at branch at Huntsville.
If both appear at the same hour we
cannot help wondering how the Gov
ernor will manage to be present in per-
son to bar their entrance. Presumably,
however, this is no great problem for a
man who has discovered some hitherto
unknown basis on which he can defy
the courts.
However this may be, If the Gov
ernor appears in person and refuses
entrance to either or both of the appli-
cantS, one would expect something of
this sort to follow: The Governor will
be promptly arrested for contempt of
court. Adequate Federal forces, made
necessary by the Governors conduct,
will be readily available to prevent any
mob action. The Negroes will be enrolled
and, if surveys are accurate, they will
be reluctantly accepted-but accepted
by the student bodies of the two inSti-
tutions.
The contempt case against Governor
Wallace will then go to the Federal
courts. He has expressed the curious
view that the Federal judges would not
hesitate to "jail, imprison and inflict
severe punishment on lesser officials,
but they would hesitate to take such
action against the Governor of Ala
barna." The "leSSer officials" are the
university authorities, who have said
they would admit the Negroes.
We do not know how Mr.. Wallace
came to this conclusion. But we suspect,
II he does what he has threatened to do,
that he is in line for rude awakening.
He will discover, we think, that the Fed
eral courts will not hesitate to "jail,
impriSon and inflict severe punishment"
on the Governor of Alabama. And If
this happens the Governor Of Alabama
will have no one to blame but himself.