Case Name: The STATE of Florida, ex rel. Virgil D. HAWKINS, Relator. v. BOARD OF CONTROL, a body corporate, et al., Respondents
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1955-10-19
Citations: 83 So. 2d 20
Docket Number: 
Parties: The STATE of Florida, ex rel. Virgil D. HAWKINS, Relator. v. BOARD OF CONTROL, a body corporate, et al., Respondents.
Judges: DREW, C. J., and HOBSON and THORNAL, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 83
Pages: 20–34

Head Matter:
The STATE of Florida, ex rel. Virgil D. HAWKINS, Relator. v. BOARD OF CONTROL, a body corporate, et al., Respondents.
Supreme Court of Florida. En Banc.
Oct. 19, 1955.
Horace E. Hill, Daytona Beach, and Robert L. Carter, New York City, for relator.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and Frank J. Heintz, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents.

Opinion:
ROBERTS, Justice.
This cause came on for reconsideration in accordance with the mandate of the Supreme Court of the United States entered on May 24, 1954. The history of the case is set forth in State ex rel. Hawkins v. Board of Control of Florida, Fla., 47 So.2d 608; Id., Fla., 53 So.2d 116, certiorari denied 342 U.S. 877, 72 S.Ct. 166, 96 L.Ed. 659; Id., Fla., 60 So.2d 162, certiorari granted 347 U.S. 971, 74 S.Ct. 783, 98 L.Ed. 1112. By and through this litigation, the relator seeks admission to the College of Law of the University of Florida on the basis that it is a tax-supported institution, that he is in all respects qualified, and that his admission has been refused solely because he is a member of the Negro race. His admission was denied by this court and his cause dismissed on August 1, 1952, for the reason that there was available to him adequate opportunity for legal education at the Law School of the Florida A. & M. University, an institution supported by the State of Florida for the higher education of Negroes, and that, although the facilities were not identical, they were substantially equal and were sufficient to satisfy his rights under the "separate but equal" doctrine announced by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1896, in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 16 S.Ct. 1138, 1144, 41 L.Ed. 256, and subsequent cases. See State ex rel. Hawkins v. Board of Control, supra, 60 So.2d 162.
The relator appealed our decision to the Supreme Court of the United States, where it was considered with other comparable appeals there, one of which was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its first opinion in the Brown case, reported in 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 691, 98 L.Ed. 873, 38 A.L.R.2d 1180, by which it announced the end of segregation in the public schools and rejected the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson, supra, in the following language:
"In Sweatt v. Painter, supra (339 U.S. 629, 70 S.Ct. 848 [94 L.Ed. 1114]) in finding that a segregated law school for Negroes could not provide them equal educational opportunities, this Court relied in large part on 'those qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which make for greatness in a law school.' In McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, supra, (339 U.S. 637, 70 S.Ct. 853) the Court, in requiring that a Negro admitted to a white graduate school be treated like all other students, again resorted to intangible considerations: ' his ability to study, to engage in discussions and exchange views with other students, and, in general, to learn his profession.' Such considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools. To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.
• "Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modem authority. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected.
"We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. This disposition makes unnecessary any dis-. cussion whether such segregation also violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."
On May 24, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States 347 U.S. 971, 74 S.Ct. 783, 98 L.Ed. 1112 vacated our judgment of August 1, 1952, and directed our reconsideration of the instant case in the light of its opinion of May 17, 1954, in the Brown case, supra, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686 "and conditions that now prevail." Under order of this court, all pleadings were brought down to date and now pose the single question of whether or not the relator is entitled to be admitted to the University of Florida Law School upon showing that he has met the routine entrance requirements. In its May 17, 1954, opinion in the Brown case, the Supreme Court of the United States reserved jurisdiction for the purpose of making further orders, judgments and decrees and, pursuant to that reservation of jurisdiction, on May 31, 1955, entered a supplemental opinion (reported in 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 756, 99 L.Ed. -, and referred to hereafter as the "implementation decision") in which it said:
"Full implementation of these constitutional principles may require solution of varied local school problems. School authorities have the primary responsibility for elucidating, assessing, and solving these problems; courts will have to consider whether the action of school authorities constitutes good faith implementation of the governing constitutional principles. Because of their proximity to local conditions and the possible need for further hearings, the courts which originally heard these cases can best perform this judicial appraisal. Accordingly, we believe it appropriate to remand the cases to those courts.
"In fashioning and effectuating the decrees, the courts will be guided by equitable principles. 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. These cases call for the exercise of these traditional attributes of equity power.
"At stake is the personal interest of the plaintiffs in admission to public schools as soon as practicable on a non-discriminatory basis. To effectuate this interest may call for elimination of a variety of obstacles in making the transition to school systems operated in accordance with the constitutional principles set forth in our May 17, 1954, decision. Courts of equity may properly take into account the public interest in the elimination of such obstacles in a systematic and effective manner. But it should go without, saying that the vitality of these constitutional principles cannot be allowed to yield simply because of disagreement with them.
"While giving weight to these public and private considerations, the courts will require that the defendants make a prompt and reasonable start toward full compliance with our May 17, 1954, ruling. Once such a start has been made, the courts may find that additional time is necessary to carry out the ruling in an effective manner. The burden rests upon the defendants to establish that such time is necessary in the public interest and is consistent with good faith compliance at the earliest practicable date. To that end, the courts may consider problems related to administration, arising from the physical condition of the school plant, the school transportation system, personnel, revi-, sion of school districts and attendance areas into compact units to achieve a system of determining admission to the public schools on a non-racial basis, and revision of local laws and regulations which may be necessary in solving the foregoing problems. They will also consider the adequacy of any plans the defendants may propose to meet these problems and to effectuate a transition to a racially nondiscriminatory school system. During this period of transition, the courts will retain jurisdiction of these cases.
"The judgments below, except that in the Delaware case, 'are accordingly reversed and remanded to the District 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.
"It is so. ordered.",
Article 'VI of the Constitution of the United States provides, among other things, the following:
"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall he bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding(Emphasis added).
The theory of "separate but equal" facilities under which this state has developed its educational system since Plessy v. Ferguson, supra, was decided in 1896, has been abolished by the, decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, supra, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686; and we deem it to be our inescapable duty to abide by this decision of the United States Supreme Court interpreting the federal constitution. It therefore follows that the respondents may not lawfully refuse to admit the relator to the University of Florida Law School merely because he is a member of the Negro race and "separate but equal" facilities have been provided for him at a separate law school. Nor can we sustain the contention of respondents that "the adverse psychological effect of segregation on Negro children on which the case of Brown v. Board of Education, supra, rested would have no application to the petitioner' who is a college graduate and 48 years'of age," which they present in defense of their action in refusing to admit relator to the University of Florida Law School.
The respondents also state, however, as a third defense to such action, 'that "the ad mission of students of the Negro race to the University of Florida, as well as to other institutions of higher learning established for white students only, presents grave and serious problems affecting the welfare of all students and the institutions themselves and will require numerous adjustments and changes at the institutions of higher learning; and respondents cannot satisfactorily make the necessary changes and adjustments until all questions as to time and manner of establishing the new order shall have been decided on the further consideration by the United States Supreme Court " This, in my opinion, constitutes a valid defense to issuance of the peremptory writ at this time.
The "implementation decision" of May 31, 1955, quoted at length above, does 'not impose upon the respondents a clear legal duty to admit the relator to its Law School immediately, or at any particular time in the future; on the contrary, the clear import of this decision — and, indeed, its express direction — is that the state courts shall apply equitable principles in the determination of the precise time in any given jurisdiction when members of the Negro race shall be admitted to white schools. The Supreme Court of the United States said in that decision that these cases call for the exercise by the courts of the traditional powers of an equity court with particular reference to "its facility for adjusting and reconciling public and private needs," and the "practical flexibility in shaping its remedies." In entering its "implementation decision," it is very likely that the high court had before it, and may well have considered, the decision of this court rendered November 16, 1954, in Board of Public Instruction v. State, Fla., 75 So.2d 832, 837, in which speaking through Mr. Justice Terrell, we discussed the necessity of gradual desegregation, and, among other things, said:
"School systems are developed on long range planning. Since the Brown case reverses a trend that has been followed for generations certainly there should be a gradual adjustment from the existing segregated system to the non-segregated system. This is the more true in most of the states with segregated school systems because plants and physical facilities have not kept pace with the growth of population, hence they are bursting at the seams from overcrowded conditions.
*
" When segregation comes in the democratic way it will be under regulations imposed by local authority who will be fair and just to both races in view of the lights before them. If it comes in any other way it will follow the fate of national prohibition and some other 'noble experiments'. If there is anything settled in our democratic theory, it is that there must be a popular yearning for laws that invade settled concepts before they will be enforced. The U. S. Supreme Court has recognized this."
The respondents have alleged that the admission of Negroes to the institutions of higher learning under their jurisdiction and control "presents grave and serious problems affecting the welfare of all students and the institutions themselves and will require numerous adjustments and changes at the institutions of higher learning; " And, under the express language of the "implementation decision," this court "may properly take into account the public interest in the elimination of such obstacles in a systematic and effective manner." Moreover, the relator has chosen as the vehicle for enforcing his lawful right in this court our extraordinary remedy of mandamus, and it has long been held in this state that the granting of the writ of mandamus "is governed by equitable principles, and that the enforcement of the writ if granted may be modified or postponed in particular circumstances when the carrying it out according to the strict letter of the command would be of no great advantage to the relator but would tend to work a serious public mischief, or result in irreparable injury or embarrassment in the orderly functioning of the government with regard to its financial affairs, unless so restricted." City of Safety Harbor v. State, 1939, 136 Fla. 636, 187 So. 173. See also State ex rel. Carson v. Bateman, 131 Fla. 625, 180 So. 22; State ex rel. Gibson v. City of Lakeland, 126 Fla. 342, 171 So. 227; State ex rel. Bottome v. City of St. Petersburg, 126 Fla. 233, 170 So. 730.
It is our opinion that, both under the equitable principles applicable to mandamus proceedings and the express command of the United States Supreme Court in its "implementation decision" the exercise of a sound judicial discretion requires this court to withhold, for the present, the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandamus in this cause, pending a subsequent determination of law and fact as to the time when the relator should be admitted to the University of Florida Law School; and, to that end and for that purpose, Honorable John A. H. Murphree, Circuit Judge, is hereby appointed as a commissioner of this court to take testimony from the relator and respondents and such witnesses as they may produce, material to the issues alleged in the third defense of the respondents, as follows:
"That the admission of students of the negro race to the University of Florida, as well as to other state institutions of higher learning established for white students only, presents grave and serious problems affecting the welfare of all students and the institutions themselves, and will require numerous adjustments and changes at the institutions of higher learning; and respondents cannot satisfactorily make the necessary changes and adjustments until all questions as to time and manner of establishing the new order shall have been decided on the further consideration thereof by the United States Supreme Court, at which time the necessary adjustments can be made as a part of one over-all pattern for all levels of education as may be finally determined, and thereby greatly decrease the danger of serious conflicts, incidents and disturbances,"
and with directions to file a transcript of such testimony without recommendations or findings of fact to this court within four months from the date hereof; such testimony to be limited in scope to conditions that may prevail, and that may lawfully be taken into account, in respect to the College of Law of the University of Florida.
We adopt this procedure pursuant to the directive of the "implementation decision" to the effect that we retain jurisdiction "during this period of transition" so that we "may properly take into account the public interest" as well as the "personal interest" of the relator in the elimination of such obstacles as otherwise might impede a systematic and effective transition to the accomplishment of the results ordered by the Supreme Court of the United States. Based upon such evidence as may be offered at the hearing above directed, this court will thereupon determine an effective date for the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandamus.
It is so ordered.
DREW, C. J., and HOBSON and THORNAL, JJ., concur.
TERRELL, J., concurs specially.
THOMAS and SEBRING, JJ., concur in part and dissent in part.