Court Opinion

ID: 9475296
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:23:14.656876+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:38.203543
License: Public Domain

ADRIAN G. DUPLANTIER, District Judge,
concurring:
I would affirm the trial court without reservation or qualification.
It matters not whether, in devising a construction program, a school board which is operating a system not yet declared to be unitary has a duty to promote integration rather than merely to avoid segregation or discrimination on account of race, for the Lawrence County school system has been declared to be unitary by this court.
Acting under a mandate of the Supreme Court, in 1969 this court entered an order, effective immediately, directing that the Lawrence County school system begin immediately to operate as a unitary system. United States v. Lawrence County School District, et al, 423 F.2d 1264 (5th Cir.1969). After supervising the operation of the school system for over four years, on January 9, 1974, three judges of this court entered an order which provides in pertinent part as follows:
*1052UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. LAWRENCE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al
Civil Action No. 2216(H)
ORDER
Pursuant to the decision of the Supreme Court in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, 1969, 396 U.S. 19, 0 [90] S.Ct. 29, 24 L.Ed.2d 19, this Court has retained jurisdiction of the within captioned school cases pending the desegregation of each system.
It now appearing that the Lawrence County School District school system has been and is being maintained as a unitary school system in compliance with the aforesaid orders, and it further appearing that it would be appropriate to transfer jurisdiction of the case to the district court under a final order there to be entered as follows, it is ORDERED:
(1) Jurisdiction of No. 2216, United States of America v. Lawrence County School District, et al, is hereby transferred to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi;
(2) Said case may be placed on the inactive docket of that court subject to being reopened for good cause shown on the application of any party, or inter-venor, or sua sponte;
(3) The aforesaid orders entered by this Court shall be considered as the mandate of this Court and are to be made the order of the district court;
It is an understatement to note that the three judges of this court who signed that order were familiar with school integration cases and understood the meaning and effect of a determination of unitary status. The same is true of the attorneys for the plaintiff, the United States of America, and for Amicus Curiae, both of whom approved the form of the order. In considering whether to issue a preliminary injunction in this case, the district judge was entitled, and indeed bound, to give effect to the 1974 order of this court, which is still in effect, unchanged. Because the Lawrence County school system has been judicially declared to be unitary, the trial judge applied the proper legal standard in denying a preliminary injunction.