Harris v. Gibson

• Citation: 322 F.2d 780
• Decision Date: 12 September 1963
• Docket Number: No. 20871.,20871.
• Parties: Carolyn Eleanor HARRIS, a minor, by Taylor Harris, her guardian and next friend, et al., Appellants-Intervenors, v. Linda Sue GIBSON and Brenda Gibson, minors, by Thomas L. Gibson, their father and next friend, and Thomas L. Gibson, individually, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, and Glynn County Board of Education, a public body existing under the laws of Georgia, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

322 F.2d 780 (1963)

Carolyn Eleanor HARRIS, a minor, by Taylor Harris, her guardian and next friend, et al., Appellants-Intervenors, v. Linda Sue GIBSON and Brenda Gibson, minors, by Thomas L. Gibson, their father and next friend, and Thomas L. Gibson, individually, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, and Glynn County Board of Education, a public body existing under the laws of Georgia, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 20871.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

September 12, 1963.

Constance Baker Motley, New York City, Donald L. Hollowell, Horace T. Ward, Atlanta, Ga., for appellants.

Carter Pittman, Dalton, Ga., Geo. L. Leonard, Washington, D. C., B. N. Nightingale, Brunswick, Ga., Barrie L. Jones, Alma, Ga., Alan B. Smith, Brunswick, Ga., for appellees.

Before RIVES, BROWN, and BELL, Circuit Judges.

GRIFFIN B. BELL, Circuit Judge.

The minor appellants are six Negro children presently enrolled in the public schools of Glynn County, Georgia. An application for transfer from the Negro high school to Glynn Academy, the white high school in Glynn County on behalf of each minor appellant, some to the eleventh and some to the twelfth grades, was granted by the appellee Board of Education for the 1963-64 school year which commenced on August 28, 1963. On August 27, 1963, the appellee-plaintiffs secured from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia a temporary restraining order, without notice, enjoining the appellee Board of Education from permitting the transfers. On September 6, 1963 that court entered an order styled a "pretrial order", the effect of which was to continue the temporary restraining order in force to the end of preventing the transfers. Because of this action of the District Court the Board of Education has been prevented from going forward with its voluntary plan of desegregation.

The "pre-trial" order of September 6, 1963 was, in effect, the granting of a preliminary injunction. Our jurisdiction in this regard is based on 28 U.S.C.A. § 1292, Sims v. Greene, 3 Cir., 1947, 160 F.2d 512. See also Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. Co. v. Randolph, 8 Cir., 1950, 182 F.2d 996. We have the power to grant any necessary relief to prevent irreparable damage to the minor appellants, Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1651. The "pre-trial" order is also a final order within the meaning of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1291 in that it determines substantial rights of the six minor Negro children, and these rights will be irreparably lost if relief is delayed pending final judgment. See United States v. Wood, 5 Cir., 1961, 295 F.2d 772, 778; cert. den., 369 U.S. 850, 82 S.Ct. 933, 8 L.Ed.2d 9; Kennedy v. Lynd, 5 Cir., 1962, 306 F.2d 222, 228; Hodges v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co., 5 Cir., 1962, 310 F.2d 438, 443.

Under the school segregation cases, Brown v. Board of Education, 1954, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873; 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L. Ed. 1083; Cooper v. Aaron, 1958, 358 U. S. 1, 78 S.Ct. 1401, 3 L.Ed.2d 5, the irreparable damage being sustained by appellants consists of being forced to attend a racially segregated school. No comparable injury will be suffered by the appellee-plaintiffs if the motion for injunction pending appeal is granted. This court is of the opinion that there is a strong probability that the appellant-intervenors will ultimately prevail on this appeal on the merits although that question is not now decided.

It follows from what we...