Firm Against Evasion

Though sometimes divided on other issues, the Supreme Court has been nearly united in its determination to root out racial injustice in the U.S. Last week the court reacted firmly against efforts to evade,either its own pronouncements or laws against discrimination. In the three most important racial cases of the current session, the court:

P:Unanimously required the Montgomery County, Ala., board of education to assign teachers and other staff members to each of its schools this year in a ratio of at least one black to every five whites. In so ruling, the court supported a quota system for the first time --and may well have opened a Pandora's box of litigation involving race quotas in such areas as industrial promotions, school admissions and housing rentals. The quota, which was originally ordered by District Judge Frank Johnson, had been pronounced too inflexible a standard by a federal appeals court. But Justice Hugo Black, expressing the opinion of the Supreme Court, declared that it was necessary to "expedite, by means of specific commands, the day when a completely unified, unitary, nondiscriminatory school system becomes a reality instead of a hope."

P:Ruled 7 to 1 that a literacy test required for voting in Gaston County, N.C., discriminated against blacks because the county had denied them equal educational opportunities. The literacy test, which made ability to read and write segments of the Constitution a qualification for voting, was declared a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Even if the county today offers a better education to young Negroes, the court decided, this "does nothing for their parents. 'Impartial' administration of the literacy test today would serve only to-perpetuate inequities." --

P:Declared that the Lake Nixon Club, a whites-only, 232-acre amusement park near Little Rock, Ark., had illegally excluded Negroes. By a 7-to-l vote, the court ruled in favor of two Little Rock Negroes--Rosalyn Kyles and Doris Daniel--who had been denied membership at Lake Nixon. The "club," decided the court, was really a "public accommodation" involved in interstate commerce and was forbidden by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to discriminate against the women. In a lone dissent, Justice Black argued that Lake Nixon was in an isolated spot unlikely to attract any out-of-state travelers. But the majority pointed out that the owners advertised in periodicals that were available at tourist centers. Even though Lake Nixon provided no spectator sports, the court declared, it was a place of public entertainment. Besides, it had leased 15 paddle boats from an Oklahoma firm, its jukebox was made in another state, and the ingredients of three out of four items served at the snack bar come from outside Arkansas.

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