Meredith v. Fair, 19394.

• Decision Date: 10 April 1962
• Docket Number: No. 19394.,19394.
• Citation: 298 F.2d 696
• Parties: James H. MEREDITH, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, Appellant, v. Charles Dickson FAIR, President of the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

298 F.2d 696 (1962)

James H. MEREDITH, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, Appellant, v. Charles Dickson FAIR, President of the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning, et al., Appellees.

No. 19394.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

January 12, 1962.

On Petition for Rehearing April 10, 1962.

Constance Baker Motley, New York City, R. Jess Brown, Vicksburg, Miss., for appellant.

Dugas Shands, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charles Clark, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellees.

Before TUTTLE, Chief Judge, and RIVES and WISDOM, Circuit Judges.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge.

James H. Meredith is a Mississippi Negro in search of an education. Mississippi is one of three states which have not yet allowed a Negro citizen to seek an education at any of its state-supported, "white" colleges and universities.¹

After graduation from high school at the age of seventeen, Meredith volunteered for the United States Air Force. He was honorably discharged nine years later. During his years in the service, he acquired thirty-four semester credits by attending night courses at the University of Maryland (Far Eastern Division, Tokyo), the University of Kansas, and Washburn University. His A's and B's at the University of Maryland show that he applied himself diligently.² In addition, over the years, Meredith attended numerous college level courses offered by the Armed Forces Institute. Jackson State College allowed him fifty-seven quarter hours credit for the work he had taken at the Armed Forces Institute. After his discharge from the Air Forces in the summer of 1960, Meredith returned to Mississippi and enrolled in Jackson State College, a Negro college in Jackson. Throughout his years of seeking to improve himself, he elected to study demanding and challenging subjects indicative of a determined effort to obtain a solid education. In the early part of 1961, Meredith applied for admission to the University of Mississippi. At that time he had about ninety credits. When asked on the witness stand why he wished to transfer from Jackson State College to the University of Mississippi he said that he regarded Jackson State as "substandard".

January 26, 1961, Meredith mailed formal applications for admission to the University of Mississippi. His letter of transmittal informed the registrar that he was a Negro; the forms required a statement of the applicant's race and also required him to attach a photograph. He furnished with his application five certificates from residents of Attala County, each certifying to his good moral character. Meredith's letter to the registrar stated: "I will not be able to furnish you with the names certificates of six University Alumni as required by University regulations for admission because I am a negro and all graduates of the school are white. Further, I do not know any graduate personally."

February 4, 1961, the registrar wired Meredith that it "has been found necessary to discontinue consideration of all applications for admission or registration for the second semester which were received after January 25, 1961." University officials stated that overcrowding at the University prompted its action.

February 20, 1961, Meredith wrote the registrar requesting that his application be considered "a continuing application for admission during the summer session beginning June 8, 1961." He asked that the registrar advise him whether his transcripts from other universities had been received and whether he had forwarded to the registrar all of the information necessary to make the application for admission complete. In answer, the registrar wrote him that since the University was "unable to accept application for admission", the ten dollars for the room deposit was being returned.

February 23, 1961, Meredith wrote the registrar and again requested that he be considered for admission to the summer session. The registrar did not reply to this letter. March 18, Meredith wrote, requesting that his application "be considered a continuing one for the Summer Session and the Fall Session, 1961". Again he asked "whether there remains any further prerequisites to admission". Not having received a reply by March 26, he wrote the registrar calling attention to the statement in the Bulletin of the University of Mississippi, 1960 Catalog, that the registrar "will provide each transfer student with an evaluation of the credits acceptable to the University", and asking that he be sent a copy of the evaluation of his credits. In the same letter he forwarded five amended certificates from the same Attala County residents who signed the original certificates, not only attesting to his good moral character, but specifically recommending his admission to the University.

Meredith received no answer from the registrar to any of these three letters. On April 12, 1961, he wrote the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Mississippi. This letter requested the Dean "to review the case with the registrar and to advise Meredith" which admission "requirements, if any, he failed to meet, and to give him some assurance that his race and color are not the basis for his failure to gain admission to the University". This letter produced a reply almost four weeks later. The registrar answered May 9, 1961, stating that the "application had been received and will receive proper attention". As for Meredith's credits, he stated that "under the standards of the University of Mississippi the maximum credit which could be allowed is forty-eight semester hours" of the total of ninety according to the transcripts. Meredith wrote on May 15 and again on May 21, 1961 stating that he still wanted his application considered as pending.

May 25, 1961, the registrar closed his file on Meredith with the following letter:

"The University cannot recognize the transfer of credits from the institution which you are now attending since it is not a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Our policy permits the transfer of credits only from member institutions of regional associations. Furthermore, students may not be accepted by the University from those institutions whose programs are not recognized.

"As I am sure you realize, your application does not meet other requirements for admission. Your letters of recommendation are not sufficient for either a resident or nonresident applicant. I see no need for mentioning any other deficiencies."

May 31, 1961, Meredith filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi against the Board of Trustees of the State Institution of Higher Learning of the State of Mississippi, the Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and the Registrar of the University. The Board of Trustees, apointed by the governor with the consent of the Mississippi senate, is vested, under the state constitution, with the management and control of all the state institutions of higher learning. The complaint is filed as a class action on behalf of Meredith and all other Negro students similarly situated.³ It seeks to enjoin, at the University of Mississippi and other state institutions of higher learning, the practice of limiting admissions to white persons.

The particular phase of the litigation now before this Court is an appeal from an order of the district court denying Meredith's motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining the registrar at the University from denying appellant's admission solely on account of his race and color. The motion, which was filed with the complaint, asked for specific relief with regard to the summer term beginning June 8, 1961, but the pleadings and the hearings show that the plaintiff sought admission to the next available term, summer session or regular session. The hearing on the motion was set for June 12, 1961, four days after commencement of the first summer term. About 3:30 p. m. on the afternoon of the hearing the district judge stopped the hearing and continued the case, on the ground that he had set aside only one day to hear the case, because of his crowded docket. The case was continued until July 10, 1961, at which time, according to the court, the entire case would be heard since, in the interim, the answer would have been filed. The case could not be heard on July 10, however, because it conflicted with the trial of a special three-judge court case.

Since it was apparent that the first summer term would be over before the case would be heard, the appellant filed another motion urging the court to grant a preliminary injunction before commencement of the second term on July 17, 1961. The motion was fixed for hearing on July 11, 1961. On July 10, the chief counsel for the appellee, an assistant attorney general for the state, was ill. The case was therefore continued until August 10, 1961.

In the two months' interim between filing of the complaint and the hearing August 10 the plaintiff made five unsuccessful attempts to take the registrar's deposition. The first motion was denied on the ground that the deposition could not be taken before the expiration of twenty days from the filing of the complaint. The second was denied because of the assistant attorney general's ill health. The last three were denied on the grounds that the court was "in the process of trial on plaintiff's motion for temporary injunction and in the exercise of the court's discretion".

The plaintiff moved for the production of records of all students admitted to the February 8, 1961, term, the 1961 summer term, and the September 1961 term for inspection by the plaintiff's counsel. This motion, filed on June 20, was not heard until July 27, again because of the assistant attorney general's ill health. On August 1 the district judge entered an order allowing inspection of certain records, limiting the inspection, however, to applications for admission...