Questions on Segregation

After six months of study and discussion, the U.S. Supreme Court could still not make up its mind about the legality of racial segregation in public schools (TIME, Dec. 22). In an unusual procedure, the court last week asked counsel for both sides (Negro organizations v. four Southern states and the District of Columbia) to reargue the pending cases next October. Further, the court invited the U.S. Attorney General to take part and listed specific questions which need more research and discussion. Among them:

P: Does the 14th Amendment* make segregation in the schools illegal?

P: If not, does it give Congress or the courts the right to abolish segregation?

P: If segregation is unconstitutional, what kind of court decisions could effect an orderly change in existing segregated school systems?

From the court's questions, lawyers guessed that a decision against segregation was being held up by the court's concern over a practical, perhaps gradual, way to do away with segregation.

* The clause at issue: "No state shall' make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the U.S. .

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