Lee v. Macon County Board of Education Petition for Rehearing with Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc
Public Court Documents
January 1, 1973

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Brief Collection, LDF Court Filings. Lee v. Macon County Board of Education Petition for Rehearing with Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc, 1973. 0cc7f004-bb9a-ee11-be36-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/256a9f07-8d8c-4fdf-b7d0-5b64b32be65b/lee-v-macon-county-board-of-education-petition-for-rehearing-with-suggestion-for-rehearing-en-banc. Accessed July 01, 2025.
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT NO. 73-2002 ANTHONY T. LEE, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,< Plaintiff-Intervenor and Amicus Curiae, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff-Intervenor, vs. MACON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants, ANNISTON CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM, Defendant-Appellee. ---------- 1L----------------- ------- ----------------- PETITION FOR REHEARING WITH SUGGESTION FOR REHEARING EN BANC U. W. CLEMON Adams, Baker and de m o n 1630 Fourth Avenue, North Birmingham, Alabama 35203 JACK GREENBERG NORMAN J. CHACHKIN 10 Columbus Circle New York, New York 10019 Attorneys for Appellants (Petitioners) IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT NO. 73-2002 ANTHONY T. LEE, et al., « Plaint if fs-Ap'pellan ts, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Intervenor and Amicus Curiae, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff-Intervenor, vs. MACON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants, • ANNISTON CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court ____ for the Northern District of Alabama PETITION FOR REHEARING WITH SUGGESTION FOR REHEARING EN BANC Appellants, by their undersigned counsel, respect fully pray that this Court grant rehearing of the August 10, 1973 decision by a panel in this cause. Appellants further respectfully suggest the appropriateness of a rehearing en banc in this matter, should the panel to which this Petition is addressed in the first instance decline to disturb its judgment, because the panel's decision is in conflict with many other school desegregation rulings of this Circuit. Background of the Appeal ♦This case involves school desegregation in Anniston, Alabama; the present appeal is the first consideration by this Court on the merits of desegregation plans for Anniston since the Supreme Court's decisions in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ♦, 402 U.S. 1 (1971) and companion cases.- Following the filing of a Motion for Supplemental Relief by the plaintiff-intervenor United States on March 4, 1971, seeking adoption of a new plan of desegregation, the district court on October 1, 1971 directed the school board ¥ to produce such a plan. Hearings and further proceedings resulted, however, in an August 15, 1972 district court decree retaining, with minor modification, the 1970 attendance scheme. *r The United States appealed to this Court from that decree, 1/ In 1970, the same panel of this Court approved an Anniston plan utilizing "a strict neighborhood system" without trans portation, relying upon Ellis v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange County, 423 F.2d 203 (5th Cir. 1970). 429 F.2d 1218. See Davis v. Board of School Comm'rs of Mobile County, 430 F .2d 883 (5th Cir. 1970), rev'd 402 U.S. 33 (1971). -2- but that appeal was ultimately remanded on the joint motion of the United States and the school board to permit "the Anniston City Board of Education to present and support a recently adopted plan of student and faculty desegregation • • • •" Lee v. Macon County Bd. of Educ., No. 72-2982 (5th Cir., December 20, 1972). Shortly thereafter, the present appellants (the private plaintiffs in this litigation) filed objections "to the plan of desegregation herein before filed or hereinafter to be filed by the Anniston School Board with the approval of 2/ the United States Department of Justice" (8a). The objections filed by the private plaintiffs re quested that the district court schedule an early evidentiary hearing (9a) and also particularized opposition to the plan's failure to alter the identifiably black character of the ii Cooper and Randolph Park Elementary Schools or the identifiably white Norwood and Golden Springs Schools (8a). When the plan was formally tendered on February 20, 1973 it was accompanied by a joint motion signed by the United States and the school board which asserts that it was "in conformity with the require ments of Swann v. Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971) . . . ." Private plaintiffs have never indicated any agreement with that 2/ Citations in this form are to the reproduced Record on Appeal in this case, No. 73-2002. -3- proposition, but on April 9, 1973 the district court approved the board's plan with neither an evidentiary hearing nor any discussion of its reasoning (14a-15a). This appeal followed. The Plan Approved Below Anniston is a small school system in northern Ala bama (see maps attached to Brief for the United States on this appeal). In 1972-73 it enrolled 51.3% black students; it operated two high schools (25% and 98% black), two junior high schools (24% and 98% black), and 11 regular elementary schools: four less than 5% black, three over 94.9% black, and one 85% black (id.). For 1973-74 the school board and the United States projected a total student body 50.7% black; grade duplication at the secondary level was to be ended with all students assigned to single attendance centers for grades 7-12. The closing of five elementary schools and transfer of their pupils to a for mer junior high school would reduce the number of elementary grade centers to six; of these, however, two were projected all-white and a third more than 97% white, and two over 93% black (id.). One black and one white school (Cooper and Norwood) are contiguous (see map, id.). The plan utilizes no pairing (contiguous or non contiguous) , grouping, or non-contiguous zoning at the elem entary level. 43% of all black elementary students will -4- attend the two virtually all-black schools, while 59% of white elementary pupils will be assigned to virtually all- white schools (id.) . 51% of all elementary students will attend virtually one-race schools. The district court simply approved the plan without discussing this feature. The Panel's Ruling On appeal, the panel affirmed the district court's . . . . . 3/decision m a per curiam opinion. It ruled that there was no error in accepting the board's plan without a hearing since ta]il of the facts concerning the several alternatives for desegregating the Anniston schools" were developed at prior hearings in the case. The opinion further implies that, in any event, private plaintiffs waived their right to a hearing on their objections to the board's plan because their counsel a did not participate in the earlier hearings. Finally, the panel sustains the district court's action on the ground that it was within the court's "reasonable discretion under the circumstances to accept a plan which places a majority of elementary students in the Anniston system in schools which remain clearly identifiable, one-race schools. —/ A copy of the panel's opinion is attached hereto as Appendix -5- REASONS FOR GRANTING REHEARING Rehearing should be granted in this case to correct the manifest injustice which has occurred, to bring to an end as soon as possible the continuation of unconstitutional segregation in the Anniston public schools, and to eliminate divergent approaches to school desegregation cases among different panels of this Court. 1. The panel evidently misconceived the nature of the proceedings below in light of the district court's state ment that it was modifying the board's plan upon consideration 4/ of plaintiffs' objections. The plan was presented to the district court as a "compromise" between the United States and . . 5/the Anniston school board. Yet despite the expressed objec tions of the private plaintiffs, the district court approved the plan without an evidentiary hearing, in an order which fails to find that the plan satisfies the constitutional re quirements . This Court has recently held such procedures to be 4/ The changes related to reporting and transfers, and did not affect the student assignment plan. 5 / The Brief for the United States on this appeal states (p. 18) : The district court's order should be viewed in the context of the prior proceedings and negotiations. . . . Under these circumstances each party compromised. As we note in the text, however, each party did not compromise, but private plaintiffs made known their serious objection to the plan and their doubt as to its constitutionality. -6- inappropriate in school desegregation cases which, like this one, are class actions brought to protect the constitutional rights of minor black schoolchildren. Calhoun v. Cook, No. 73-2020 (5th Cir., August 21, 1973): . . . the entry of an order enforcing an alleged settlement agreement without a plenary hearing is improper. Massa chusetts Insurance Company v. Forman, 469 F .2d 259 (5th Cir. 1972). In the present case no evidentiary hearing was ever conducted to determine that a viable compromise embodying a consti tutional plan was reached. [slip op. at p. 3] The problem is a particularly serious one in cases such as this where the United States seeks to compromise and emasculate the constitutional rights of the very students whose interests they are allegedly protecting. Cf. Alexander v. Holmes County Bd. of Educ., 396 U.S. 19 (1969). 2. Private plaintiffs did not lose their right to equal protection of the laws because their counsel did not participate in 1971 hearings in this cause, opinion, however, seems to indicate that the had no obligation at all to consider private The panel's district court plaintiffs 1 objections to the "compromise" desegregation plan: . . . The district court nevertheless considered the objections raised by appellants and made some changes sug gested by them. [slip op. at p. 5] [emphasis supplied] The reason counsel for private plaintiffs had not taken part -7- frankly in appellants' Reply Brief (pp. 3-4): As counsel for the United States, the Anniston school board and the court below are all well aware, original counsel for private plaintiffs herein found themselves in the impossible position of representing practically all of the black school children in more than a hundred school systems throughout the State of Alabama by virtue of the landmark Lee v.'Macon County [decision], 267 F. Supp. 458. Unlike the United States with its legions of lawyers, original counsel for private plaintiffs could not con ceivably be physically present for each hearing in every school desegre gation case in the three federal district courts of the State of Alabama. In many of these cases, Anniston inclu ded, original counsel for private plain tiffs were limited to reviewing the developments in the cases wherein the United States was a party plaintiff- intervenor, under the apparently mistaken belief that surely after Alexander v. Holmes County, [supra], the United States would not again seek to compromise the present right of black schoolchildren to attend unitary schools. Surely Anniston's black pupils did not waive their constitu tional rights to object to a 1973 desegregation plan because their lawyers did not take part in 1971 hearings on entirely different plans, which resulted in interim orders which were, in fact, appealed by the Department of Justice! The inescapable 6/fact is that private plaintiffs seasonably made known to in the 1971 district court hearings was set forth fully and 6/ The panel writes that these objections were "prematurely filed" [slip op. at p. 3] since the plan was not formally -8- the district court, and the parties, their objections to the plan agreed to by the school board and the government. What happened in 1971 is totally irrelevant to their right to have these objections considered by the district court and this Court. 3. Nothing in the record supports the panel's conclusion that an evidentiary hearing would ‘have proved futile. Indeed, the judgment that "[a] further hearing would not be productive of any information not already fully available to the court as the result of prior hearings" [slip op. at p. 5] is not merely speculative, but one which an appellate court is hardly in a position to make. Compare Calhoun v. Cook, supra■ We pointed out in our Reply Brief on this appeal that the 1971 hearings did not, in fact, fully explore all desegregation alternatives. And it should go without saying that the closing of five elementary schools gives rise to infinitely greater possibilities which could not have been contemplated in 1971.«r* 4. The plan approved by the district court clearly fails to meet constitutional standards. As we noted above, 6/ (continued) tendered until February 20, 1973. But the plan for presentation of which the prior appeal was remanded had been adopted by the school board as early as November 15, 1972. See Motion for Extension of Time to File Appellant's [United States'] Brief in No. 72-2982, dated November 24, 1972. -9- Anniston is a small school system. It has traditionally utilized bus transportation for student assignments by subsidizing the cost of tickets on the transit system in the city; in 1969-70, nearly 50% of Anniston students received free tickets (Tr. of March 6 , 1970, pp. 18-19 [attached here to as Appendix "B"]). Under the order of the district court, more than half of all elementary students in the system will attend schools which are more than 97% white or 93% black. One of the white schools and one of the black schools are contiguous. Yet the plan does not pair these, or any other, schools— nor does it utilize pupil transportation to eliminate the remaining one-race schools. If this Court erred in failing to consider transportation in Davis v. Board of School Comm'rs of Mobile, supra, surely this plan cannot pass constitutional muster. We recognize that the district court's order requires further consideration of methods to eliminate the two virtually all-black schools for the 1974-75 school year. But'the panel's affirmance in no way suggests (quite apart from Alexander and Carter difficulties) that these schools, and the three white schools, must be desegregated. 5. The panel's ruling conflicts with other decision of this Court. While there are differences of opinion among -10- the Judges of this Circuit, see United States v. Texas Educ. Agency, 467 F.2d 848 (5th Cir. 1972) and Cisneros v. Corpus Christi Independent School Dist., 467 F.2d 142 (5th Cir. 1972), we are aware of no other post-Swann ruling of this Court which accepts as constitutionally permissible such an abysmally low level of desegregation in a system where more is clearly feasible. We have discussed above the holding of this Court with respect to "compromise" settlements in Calhoun v. Cook. In its failure to require the use of transportation to desegregate the Anniston elementary schools, the Anniston decision conflicts with Davis v. Board of School Comm'rs of Mobile, supra, among others. Whether or not Anniston previously used busing, and to what extent, is irrelevant to the achieve ment of the constitutional result. Brown v. Board of Educ. of Bessemer, 464 F.2d 382 (5th Cir. 1972); United States v. Greenwood Municipal Separate School Dist,, 460 F.2d 1205 (5th Cir. 1972). In failing to require even contiguous pairing of Cooper and Norwood, the panel retreates from even such pre-Swann decisions as Mannings v. Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, 427 F.2d 874 (5th Cir. 1970) and Allen v. Board of Public Instruction of Broward County, 432 F.2d 362 (5th Cir. 1970). Its acquiescence in the maintenance of both black and white elementary schools stands in sharp contrast to such rulings as Harrington v. Colquitt County Bd. of Educ., 460 F.2d 193 (5th Cir. 1972). -11- These conflicts are serious and important. They recall those which existed in this Circuit between the decision of Ellis v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange County, supra, by the same panel, and Davis v. Board of School Comm'rs of Mobile, supra, by the Supreme Court. They should be resolved, and the Constitution enforced, by reconsideration of this appeal and reversal of the district court, consistent with Alexander v. Holmes County Bd. of Educ., supra, and Carter v. West Feliciana Parish School Bd., 396 U.S. 290 (1970). WHEREFORE, appellants respectfully pray that rehearing, or rehearing en_ banc, be granted, and that upon such reconsideration, the judgment belcrw be reversed and the cause remanded to the district court with instructions to require submission and implementation by the second semester of the 1973-74 school year, of an plan to fully desegregate all of the elementary schools in the Anniston City School System. Appellants further pray that upon such rehearing this Court grant them their costs and an award of reasonable attorneys' fees pursuant to §718 of the Education Amendments of 1972. Respectfully submitted,c. U.W. CLEMON Adams, Baker and demon 1630 Fourth Avenue, N. Birmingham, Ala. 35203 JACK GREENBERG NORMAN J. CHACHKIN 10 Columbus Circle New York, New York 10019 Attorneys for Appellants (Petitioners) -12- CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on this 6 th day of September, 1973, I served a copy of the foregoing Petition for Rehearing With Suggestion of Rehearing En Banc upon counsel for the parties herein by mailing them, air mail special delivery postage prepaid, addressed as follows: ♦ Paul F. Hancock Attorney Department of Justice Washington, D.C. 20530 Walter J. Merrill 8th Floor Commercial National Bank Bldg. Anniston, Alabama 36201 NORMAN J. CHACHKIN ¥ iT -13- IN T H E United States Court of Appeals FO R T H E FIFT H CIRCU IT N o . 7 3 - 2 0 0 2 A N TH O N Y T. LEE, E T AL., P lain tiffs-A ppellan ts, U N ITED ST A T E S O F A M ER ICA , Plaintiff-Intervenor and A m icus Curiae, N A TIO N A L ED U CATIO N A SSO CIA TIO N , INC., Plaintiff-Intervenor, versus M ACON CO UNTY BO ARD O F ED U CA TIO N , E T A L ., D efendants, * A N N ISTO N CITY SCH O O L SY STEM , D efendant-A ppellee. Appeal from the United States D istrict Court for the Northern District of A labam a (August 10, 1973) Before BELL, AINSWORTH and GODBOLD, Circuit Judges. 2 L E E , ET AL. V. MACON CTY. ED. OF EDUC P ER CURIAM- This « £ « £ ? £ £ £ appellants involves a Alabama, City Board desegregation o at3r,roved on April 9, 1973>Of Education which was P pf ^ Board and the district court, on ]omi the United States. A short chronological history of this niston, by our decision in th ^ implemented 1970. See 429 F.2d 12 ■ ph 4 1971, the United in the 1970-71 schoo year. to require the Board States moved the dist des ation. A consent or- to prepare a new p f ̂ "g71 providing for strict der was entered on ’ es Then, on Oc- enforcement of attendance zon filing of tober 1. 1971. the distnccourt o r d e r ^ ^ ^ their a new plan by October , . ring for obieStions to H by N ov em b er^ , a n d ^ s e ^ s ^ November 18 and 19. ■ ^ response thercl0. No and the United States aooellants. The hear- objection to the plan was Med J " la and 19 and ing was held by the court on November ^ l o e s s e s testified — Appellants, the objection thereto of t hearing. There- however, did not P ™ * » ® requested an after, on December 28, 1971, the pf fte Ap. order from the- court to ° School Systems S p” / occasioned ^ ^ = - - = ^ 0 0 and sub- mitted a voluminous report which, with a new deseg regation plan, was filed by the Board on May 10, 1972. A further hearing was held on June 19, 1972, after the United States had filed its response to the alternate plan objecting thereto, and testimony was taken. Ap pellants did not participate in the heading. § The district court issued its order approving the plan with some modifications on August 15, 1972, and the United States appealed on August 30, 1972. Appellants who had not participated in any of the hearings l not appeal nor did they join the United States i m s appeal.1 While the case was on appeal the United States and the Board jointly requested that we vacate the August 15, 1972 order and remand the case to the district court that a new plan might be presented. We granted the motion on December 20, 1972.2 LEE, ET AL. v. MACON CTY. BD. OF EDUC. 3 On January 9, 1973, appellants prematurely filed ob jections to the proposed plan, but the plan was not actually filed with the court until February 20, 1973 4 ,Thc United States asserts in its briet (p. 5) that plaintiffs were served copies of all documents filed by the Government and vupro notified of each hearing date. aAfter the appeal from the August 15, 1572 order was Judged with the court, we are informed by the Board and the United States that voluntary negotiations were entered into in attempt to resolve the questions presented in the appeal. After a two-day conference in Anniston an agreemen reached resulting in adoption by the Board of a new a “ drastically different” plan of desegregation for the 197d-74 school year. 4 LEE, ET AL. v. MACON CTY. BD. OF E when the Board and the t ^ e d A^ t the district court for appr h evidentiary 1973, the district court, " tion and the hearing, on consideration i te plaintiffs, ap- proved the plan the private plaintiffs and by the objections filed y Appellants then other changes made by the cour brought this appeal. Anniston is a city of 31,533 operatcd are black. In the: last schoM y ^ ( M W 15 SC'blackW The new plan of desegregation approved were black, lhe t much more integration of by the court prov, dary schools will be com-the school system. The secon » school lo r a ll pletely integrated by piovi ^ tw0 existed before, students, black and > tudents where there and one junior high school ̂ former- were twobefore. Five elementary s“ °°* ■ b ,he ly black and tUpoosest in physical con- Auburn Center Study the stu- dition in the ^ " ‘̂ ^ L ^ o l s will be trans-dents white and Ma k, ^ Junior High School ferred to the torm .. approvedT wo all-black schools — « he P ^ by the district court of Apn ^ P School Board recognizes their omig appellants ^ ^ ^ 2 0 , t h f I d - copy of the j°int m° 10lhe united States which attaches a legation is refuted by 22, 1973, showing service s? c^ x t s s r - * u w -ciemon' I the racial identity of these schools E ^ w i l H u T a refpodrTw«h the United States District 1, 1974, indicating the steps t h a t h a v e ^ i and achieve further desegregate future.” detailing the efforts that will be taken,m Aonellants’ contention that they were entitled to a further evidentiary hearing on their objections is w further eviden y^ ̂ concerning the several al ternatives for desegregating the Annteton tehoo^have productive of any i r f o r " not Mrefdy fully a t h l e t e " as the result of Ihochose not tended by private plaintiffs^P^^ ^ nevertheless to participate therei . , , appellants and considered the objections raise ^ believe made some f ̂ T c Z o n under the court has ex t that substantial prog-the circumstances. It is apporen district court r'ess has been made by the ration ofhas exercised close supervision over the oper^ ^ ^ the plan in the past and we P requirement in the future, especially in light of the q ^ that the School Distri,ct^nst court on October 15, 1975 ana students showing the racial composition o eachi sch . and teachers, number of transfers - L ^ d ̂ t e — — ed, and l e e , EX AL. v. MACON CTY. BD. OF EDUC. 5 whether the Board has sold or abandoned any school facility or equipment. AFFIRMED. 6 LEE, ET AL. v. MACON CTY. BD. OF EDUC. Adm. Office, U.S. Courts—Scofields’ Quality Printers, Inc., N. O., La. IN HIE united states district courtFOR THE KIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA EASTERN DIVISION Anthony T. Lee, et al., Plaintiffs, | United States of America, Pla inti ff-Int erveno r and Amicus Curiae, !National Education ;Association, Inc., Pla in t i f f - Int e rv en o r, vs | Facon County Board of Education, et al., Defendants. Civil Action No. 604-E. Cl IT OF ANNISTON SCHOOL SYSTEM . Proposed modifications of Board 01 Education, filed January 13, 1970, to desegregation plan filed on December 1, 1969, by Office of Education, Department of H.E.W., and amended January 10, 1970, and the objections of the plaintiffs and the National Education Association, Inc., to said plan. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -Jf. * * * * * * ❖ * * * # * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ̂ Heard Before: Hon. Richard T. Rives, United States Circuit Judge;Hon. H. H. Grooms, United States District Judge; and Hon. Frank K. Johnson, Jr., United States District Judge. A t: Montgomery, Alabama, March 6 , 1970. for 1969-70? , +- repor-t. The number of students.A Yes, sir; as oi tne la^t P Q And the cost? A Yes, sir. admitted as Defendant’s m . I1ERRILL: Ue as.c that be. act.it Ibdiibit 4. , do you have any idea Q Doctor - or under the suffiested changes, *at percentage of the cost of this transportation would reduced? A x vould estimate approximately fifty per cent. _ , jUDGS CHOCKS: How lone has Anniston been transport chiMrcn to the schools. ^ a contract v/XTI'IEfiO: About xive ycur^, i .rc> oin'll havo this contract, with the local transit company, and * . JUDGE CROCKS: Yon don't have year own busses. WITHE3S: No, sir. JUDGE GllOOiiS: hind of unusual for a city to nav. i-■m.nsuortation to the schools. m . imniaiA: The transportation is for students w o ^ live two miles away, and we annexed a - to the city - territory out .beyond Fort KcClcllan running north; there is no ^L brin„ then in from that area, and Cobb - west Annas-on area ’ ' . . tvt is roro than two miles from the Annistonserved by Cobb Avenue; that as more ' 1 High School. VTEESS: About fifty per cent of the students would be 19 tv;o miles or more. I might — ray I add Q Certainly? A As result of the annexation, and, of course, the promise to transport those students in, this really cot us in tho transpor tation business; and then we had other areas that had not had transportation prior to this, old areas that were just as far away, so we had to extend the transportation as to all. j JUDGE GROOMS: County was furnishing transportation before, I presume? WITNESS: Yes, sir; I am sure, Q Doctor, that - so that there will bo no question about this, j as a part of the plan which is adopted by the Anniston City Board of Education, nay a majority of any race in any school, a moaberj of that majority race, transfer to any other school in the system that he wishes ̂to? j A Yes, sir; I believe that is a provision in the II.E.U. plan which vjg did not object to , Q And your faculty, there is no particular objection to that? j j A No, sir, 131, MERRILL: I believe that*s all the questions I | 1 have, your honor, JUDGE RIVES: All ri^it, gentlemen; you ray cross examine him; the plaintiffs, CROSS EXAMINATION: ; BY MR. SEAY: > ■t o ' i ■— s- A — .. . i to jb . .l .w l jt .