New York, N.Y., June 24, 1958-- …
Press Release
June 24, 1958

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. New York, N.Y., June 24, 1958-- …, 1958. e3402c63-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/16f4ffc8-b1f3-4718-afaa-dc816fdbb4cb/new-york-ny-june-24-1958. Accessed April 22, 2025.
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, “PRESS RELEASE® e NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND TO COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK 19,N.Y. «© JUdson 6-8397 DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS op THURGOOD MARSHALL President Director-Counsel June 24, 1958 NEW YORK, N. Y., June 24, 1958--"We will take every legal step to help get those kids back in Central High in September" Thurgood Marshall declared today following the filing of a motion with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to make ineffective the June 20th order of District Judge Harry J. Lemley, suspending inte- gration at the Little Rock High School. Judge Lemley yesterday denied a motion requesting him to stay his order suspending integration for 24 years. His order bars the remaining seven Negro students from attending Central High School next fall. The motion denied yesterday sought to permit the students to continue at the school until the suspension order could be heard by a higher court. Mr. Marshall and Wiley A. Branton, the other attorney for the Negro students, charged in their motion filed today that all of the evidence relied on by Judge Lemley in his June 20th order "is outside the scope of the matters which a trial judge may consider in school segregation cases," The Little Rock integration plan was adopted in 1955 and approved by the District Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1956. The School Board sought suspension of it on February 20, 1958. At the hearing June 3-5, Judge Lemley reserved ruling on the motion of the Negro students to dismiss the school plea and all other motions until his final decision, Following the ordering of the National Guard by Governor Orval E. Faubus last fall to prevent the Negro children from attending Central High School, Judge Ronald N. Davies ordered the School Board to proceed with integration "forthwith." On September 20, he pro- hibited interference and Governor Faubus withdrew the Guards. Federal troops were ordered to the school on September 23. Judge Lemley, in issuing his June 20 order, declared that the source of trouble at Central High "was deep-seated popular opposition in Little Rock to the principle of integration, which, as is known, EEO runs counter to the pattern of southern life which has existed over 300 years." "The evidence also shows that to this opposition was added the conviction of many people of Little Rock that the Brown (United States Supreme Court May 17, 1954) decisions do not truly represent the law, and that by virtue of 1956-1957 enactments (Arkansas interposition pupil assignment plan). . .integration in the public schools could be lawfully avoided" the 74-year old jurist said in his order issued on Saturday. Attorneys for the Negro students contended that Judge Lemley should have continued rather than suspended the integration plan pending an appeal to the higher court. His "conclusions of the law" are contrary to the United States Supreme Court decisions in the School Segregation Cases, as well as decisions of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Marshall and Branton argued. It is difficult to imagine a more impressive case for continuing the status quo pending appeal than where the appeal is from an order of the District Judge which nullifies a previous decision of the court" the students' attorneys declared in their motion for the stay of the suspension order. In denying the motion to stay his June 20th order, Judge Lemley claimed that to grant it would, to a large extent, nullify "our order" as it would take months to carry the motion to appeal his order through the Court of Appeals into the United States Supreme Court. "Meanwhile", he said, "the situation at Central High which we consider intolerable to education, would continue." Failure to grant the stay would mean that the remaining seven Negro students who attend Central High, and other Negro children in the class represented by the suit "would suffer irreparable injury" in being denied a nonsegregated education as ordered by the District Court andthe Court of Appeals. Mr. Marshall who is Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said that if the motion to stay Judge Lemley's order is denied by the Court of Appeals the case would then be taken to the United States Supreme Court. "We have no intention of letting those kids down" he said. "We will use every legal means to have them back at Central High in the fall.® - 30 -