Summary
requiring district court to retain jurisdiction for three years to ensure that no “deliberate action by the school authorities or some other agency of the State has affected the unitary status of this system so that further intervention by the district court is required.”
Summary of this case from Thomas v. St. Martin Parish Sch. Bd.Opinion
No. 71-2604.
January 3, 1972.
Jack Greenberg, New York City, Marion Overton White, Opelousas, La., Norman Chachkin, New York City, A. P. Tureaud, New Orleans, La., Margrett Ford, Shreveport, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.
J. Y. Fontenot Dist. Atty., 27th Judicial Dist., Opelousas, La., Harry J. Kron, Jr., Thibodeaux, La., Edward Christenbury, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Washington, D.C., Lawrence Sandoz, Jr., Opelousas, La., Donald E. Walter, U.S. Atty., Shreveport, La., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
Before THORNBERRY, MORGAN and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
The order appealed from, reflecting the informed judgment of the district court, is affirmed, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 28 L.Ed.2d 554 (1971). The district court correctly retained jurisdiction of this proceeding and should continue to maintain that jurisdiction for a minimum period of three years. In no event should the district court dismiss this action without notice to the plaintiffs below and a hearing providing opportunity to plaintiffs to show that deliberate action by school authorities or some other agency of the State has affected the unitary status of this system so that further intervention of the district court is required. See Swann, supra, and Calhoun v. Cook, 451 F.2d 583 (5th Cir. 1971) and the cases cited in that opinion.