Jones v. Caddo Parish School Board Brief for Appellants
Public Court Documents
April 15, 1974
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Brief Collection, LDF Court Filings. Jones v. Caddo Parish School Board Brief for Appellants, 1974. 3bcf2d4d-b99a-ee11-be36-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/6d2593e8-22e5-4ecc-9887-23e6923298f7/jones-v-caddo-parish-school-board-brief-for-appellants. Accessed November 23, 2025.
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
NO. 74-1672
BERYL N. JONES, et a'l.. ,
Plaintiffs,
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Intervenor,
vs.
CADDO PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, et al.,
Defendants-Appellees,
JERRY ADAMS, et al.,
Applicants for Intervention
Appellants.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS ADAMS, et al.
HILRY HUCKABY, III
501 Petroleum Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
JACK GREENBERG
JAMES M. NABRIT, III
NORMAN J. CHACHKIN
MARGRETT FORD
10 Columbus Circle
New York, New York 10019
Attorneys for Appellants
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
NO. 74-1672
BERYL N. JONES, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
vs .
Plaintiff-Intervenor,
CADDO PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, et al.,
Defendants-Appellees,
JERRY AD/aMS , et al.,
Applicants for Intervention-
Appellants .
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
CERTIFICATE REQUIRED BY LOCAL RULE 13(a)
The undersigned, counsel of record for the applicants for
intervention-appellants, certifies that the following listed
parties have an interest in the outcome of this case. These
representations are made in order that Judges of this Court may
evaluate possible disqualification or recusal pursuant to Local
Rule 13(a) :
1. The original plaintiffs who commenced this action in
1965 include Rev. E. E. Jones, who sued individually and on
behalf of his minor children Beryl N. Jones and Ernest E. Jones,
Jr.; Mrs. Bernice Smith, who sued individually and on behalf of
her minor children Brenda Braggs and Renee Skannal; and Mrs.
Dorothy Saxton, who sued individually and on behalf 0 1 her minor
children Brenda Louise Saxton and Kenneth Saxton. A fourth
original plaintiff, C.C. McLain, was dismissed as a party plain
tiff on his own behalf and on behalf of his minor children on
June 14, 1965.
2. The original plaintiffs above named commenced and
maintained this action as a class aclion pursuant to F.R. Civ. P.
23 on behalf of “other Negro children and their parents in CJiddo
Parish.
3. The United States of America, admitted as a plaintiff-
intervenor in this cause.
4. The defendants are the Caddo Parish School Board, a
public body corporate responsible for the operation of the
public schools of Caddo Parish, Louisiana; and the current
President of the said School Board and Superintendent of the
Caddo Parish Public Schools.
5. Appellants, unsuccessful applicants for intervention
as plaintiffs, are Mrs. Fannie Adams, suing individually and
on behalf of her minor children Jerry Adams, Vicki Adams and
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William Adams; Mrs. Marjorie R. Ford, suing individually and
on behalf of her minor children Tracy Roderick Ford, Vivian
Ray Ford, Toni Lynn Ford and Alan Craig Ford; David L. Roberson,
suing individually and onbehalf of his minor child Kevin Dwayne
Roberson; Rev. Curtis F. Roberson; and Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Clark,
suing individually and on behalf of their minor children Jeanette
Clark, Janet Marie Clark, Azzie Lee Clark and Eddie Clark, Jr.
6. Appellants sought to intervene in this litigation m
order to represent the interests of a class defined as follows:
"present and future black public schoolchildren who are or will
be eligible to attend the public schools of Caddo Parish . . .
[and] parents and guardians of such black public schoolchildren
with the exception of the subclass of such adults who have
accepted the presently operative plan of desegregation and who
do not desire to have its constitutionality determined by this
Court."
({(Ccu/it
NORMAN J. CH^CHKIN
Attorney of Record for
Applicants for Intervention-
Appellants.
-3-
I N D E X
Page
Table of Authorities . ........................... ii
Issues Presented for Review .................... 1
Statement
Background of the C a s e .................... 2
Proceedings for Further Desegregation . . . . 3
Substitution of Counsel and Entry
of Consent Decree .................. 6
The Attempted Intervention ................ 8
ARGUMENT —
I. The District Court Erred in Denying
Intervention.......... ..................10
'A. The interests sought to be represen
ted by the appellants were not ade
quately protected by the original
plaintiffs in the proceedings before
the District C o u r t .................. 10
B. Appellants complied with the require
ments of Hines v. Rapides Parish
School Bd. , supra .................. 13
C. Intervention would have corrected
the error committed by the District
Court in the substitution of counsel . 14
D. The intervention was timely.......... 16
II. This Case Should Be Remanded To Another
District Judge With Instructions To
Disapprove The Biracial Committee Plan . . 20
A. A reversal of the intervention ruling
alone, or with a remand to the District
Court to reconsider its approval of
the biracial committee plan will lead
only to delay and is unnecessary since
the holding and principles of Calhoun
v. Cook, 487 F.2d 680 (5th Cir. 1973),
are so clearly controlling.......... 21
l
I N D E X (continued)
B. This Court should also instruct the
District Court on remand that the
biracial committee plan is unconsti
tutionally insufficient on this
record because it fails to desegre
gate the Caddo Parish public schools . 26
C. This case should be remanded with
instructions that it be transferred
to another district judge . . . . . . 28
oqConclusion.............................. ..
Page
Table of Authorities
Cases:
Alexander v. Holmes County Bd. of Educ., 396 U.S.
19 (1969) . .............................* 19
Allen v. Board of Public Instruction of Broward
County, 432 F.2d 362 (5th Cir. 1970) . . . . 27
Ashback v. Kirtley, 289 F.2d 159 (8th Cir. 1961) 22
Atlantis Development Corp. v. United States,
379 F.2d 818 (5th Cir. 1967).............. 12n
Bradley v. Board of Public Instruction of Pinellas
County, 431 F.2d 1377 (5th Cir. 1970) . . . 27
Brown v. Board of Educ., 347 U.S. 483 (1954) . . 23, 24
Calhoun v. Cook, 487 F.2d 680 (5th Cir. 1973) . . 2, 13, 14,19-20, 21,
Calhoun v. Cook, 469 F.2d 106 7 (5th Cir. 1972) . -an
Cameron v. President & Fellows, 157 F.2d 993
(Ist Cir. 1946) ..........................
16,
22n
xi
Carter v. West Feliciana Parish School Bd.,
396 U.S. 290 (1970)........................ 3, 19
Carter v. WTest Feliciana Parish School Bd.,
396 U.S. 226 (1969)........................ 19
Cascade Natural Gas Corp. v. El Paso Natural Gas
Co., 386 U.S. 129 (1967) ............ .. 12n, 17
Cisneros v. Corpus Christi Independent School
Dist., 467 F.2d 142 (5th Cir. 1972) . . . . . 27
Cohen v. Young, 127 F.2d 721 (6th Cir. 1942) . . . 22
Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958) ............... 24
Davis v. Board of School Comm1rs of Mobile, 402 .
U.S. 33 (1971) ......................... 27
Dowell v. School Bd. of Oklahoma City, 430 F.2d
865 (10th Cir. 1970; ...................... 12
Ellis v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange
County, 465 F.2d 878 (5th Cir. 1972), cert,
denied, 410 U.S. 966 (1973)................ 18
Flax v. Potts, 313 F.2d 284 (5th Cir. 1963) . . . 23, 25, 28
Hall v. St. Helena Parish School Bd., 417 F.2d
801 (5th Cir.), cert, denied, 396 U.S.
904 (1969) . . . . . ................ . . . 3
Hatton v. County Bd. of Educ. of Maury County,
422 F.2d 457 (6th Cir. 1970) .............. 11
Henry v. Clarksdale Municipal Separate School
Dist., 433 F.2d 387 (5th Cir. 1970) . . . . . 27
Hines v. Rapides Parish School Bd., 479 F.2d
762 (5th Cir. 1973)........................ 8, 10, 13, 14
Jones v. Caddo Parish School Bd., 421 F.2d
313 (5th Cir. 1970)........................ 3
Lee v. Macon County Bd. of Educ., 482 F.2d
1253 (5th Cir. 1973) ...................... 13
Norman v. McKee, 431 F.2d 769 (9th Cir. 1970) . . 22
Table of Authorities (continued)
Page
iii
Northcross v. Board of Educ. of Memphis, 412
U.S. 427 (1973)............................ 30
Pate v. Dade County School Bd., 434 F.2d 1141
(5th Cir. 1970)............................ 27
Sertic v. Cuyahoga Lake, etc., Carpenters Dist.
Council, 459 F.2d 579 (6th Cir. 1972) . . . . 22
Sheffield v. Itawamba County Bd. of Supervisors,
439 F. 2d 35 (5th Cir. 1971)................ 25
Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948)........... 25, 28
Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School
Dist., 432 F.2d 927 (5th Cir. 1970) . . . . . 27
Smuck v. Hobson, 408 F.2d 175 (D.C. Cir. 1968),
rev1 g 44 F.R.D. 18 (D.D.C. 1968) .......... 12
Steele v. Board of Public Instruction of Leon
County, 448 F.2d 767 (5th Cir. 1971) . . . . 19
Stell v. Savannah-Chatham County Bd. of Educ.,
333 F.2d 55 (5th Cir.), cert, denied, 379
U.S. 933 (1964)............................ H
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ.,
402 U.S. 1 (1971).......................... 3, 9n, 27
Trbovich v. United Mine Workers of America, 404
U.S. 528 (1972)............................ 12
United States v. Hinds County School Bd., No.
28030 (5th Cir., March 20, 1974) .......... 19
United States v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ.,
372 F.2d 836 (1966), aff'd en banc, 380 F.2d
385 (5th Cir.), cert, denied sub nom. Caddo
Parish School Bd. v. United States, 389 U.S.
840 (1967) ................................ 3
United States v. Quattrone, 149 F. Supp. 240
(D.D.C. 1957) .............................. 28
United States v. Texas Educ. Agency, 467 F.2d
848 (5th Cir. 1972)........................ 27
Table of Authorities (continued)
Page
IV
Table of Authorities (continued)
M i
Walpert v. Bart, 44 F.R.D. 359 (D. Md. 1968) . . . 18
Wright v. Board of Public Instruction of Alachua
County, 431 F.2d 1200 (5th Cir. 1970) . . . . 27
Wright v. Board of Public Instruction of Alachua
County, 445 F.2d 1397 (5th Cir. 1971) . . . . 19
Young v. Katz, 447 F.2d 431 (5th Cir. 1971) . . . . 22
Youngblood v. Board of Public Instruction of Bay
County, 448 F.2d 770 (5th Cir. 1971) . . . . 19
Statutes and Rules:
F.R. Civ. P. 23 ................ .. 16, 19, 22.,
F.R. Civ. P. 24 ............ 10
Local Rule 1, U.S. Dist. Ct., E.D. La. . . . . . . 15
Other Authorities:
4 Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence (5th Ed. 1941) . . 24
v
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
NO. 74-1672
BERYL N. JONES, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Intervenor,
vs.
CADDO PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, et al.,
Defendant s-Appellees,
JERRY ADAMS, et al.,
Applicants for Intervention-
Appellants „
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS ADAJMSf_jet_a
Issues Presented for Review
1. Did the District Court err in denying appellants
motion to intervene in this case where appellants are all
members of the class on whose behalf this action was commenced
by the original plaintiffs, and appellants objected to the
settlement of the lawsuit upon the terms to which the original
plaintiffs had agreed because, appellants alleged, that settle
ment fails to protect the rights of the class?
2. Did the District Court err in striking from the docket
the names of plaintiffs' original counsel without their filing
motions to withdraw, endorsing a motion to substitute other
counsel for them, before notice of the motion had reached them,
and without, considering the necessity to insure adequate repre
sentation of the class on whose beha]f this suit was brought?
3. Did the District Court err in approving a purported
desegregation plan for the Caddo Parish school system by issu
ance of a consent decree in this class action, without making
findings and conclusions as to the constitutional sufficiency
of the plan? Calhoun v. Cook, 487 F.2d 680 (5th Cir. 1973) .
Statement
This appeal brings to the Fifth Circuit another unfortunate,
ugly instance in which a United States Court has become enmeshed *
in a scheme to frustrate the effectuation of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
Background of the Case
This is a classic school desegregation suit which was
brought May 4, 1965. Its progress through the years is reflected
in the major decisions of this Court which directly applied to
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it, e.g., United States v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ.,
372 F.2d 836 (1966), aff'd en banc, 380 F.2d 385 (5th Cir.),
cert, denied sub noin. Caddo Parish School Bd. v. United States,
389 U.S. 840 (1967); Hall v. St. Helena Parish School Bd., 417
F.2d 801 (5th Cir.), cert, denied, 396 U.S. 904 (1969); see
Jones v. Caddo Parish School Bd., 421 F.2d 313 (5th Cir. 19/0) .
Following this Court's Carter" remand in 1970, the District
Court approved, as modified, a school board geographic zoning
2/
plan of desegregation (R. 12). That plan did not utilize
pairing (con liguous or non—contiguous) , non-contiguous zoning,
or pupil transportation to facilitate the elimination of racially
identifiable schools in Caddo Parish. Minor modifications to the
zone lines were made on several occasions (R. 12—16).
Proceedings for Further' Desegregation
On March 6, 1972, plaintiffs filed an Amended Motion for
Further Relief (R. 22-33) seeking comprehensive desegregation
of the Caddo Parish public schools in accordance with the prin
ciples enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Swann
v. Charlotte—Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., 402 U.S. 1 (1971) and
companion cases. The school board responded on May 2, 1972 (R.
1/ Carter v. West Feliciana Parish School Bd., 396 U.S. 290 (1970).
2/ Citations to the reproduced Record filed with this Brief. The
record initially transmitted by the District Court Clerk has
been supplemented in accordance with this Court s Order of April
1, 1974. The entire Record as supplemented has been consecutively
paginated in the lower left-hand corner of each page.
-3-
16) but there were no further proceedings with respect to
3/school desegregation until March 5, 1973
when the school board moved to modify certain attendance zones
(R. 17) .
On March 20, 1973, plai.ntiff-intervenor United States of
America filed a "Response" to plaintiffs' year-old Amended
Motion for Further Relief (R. 34-40). The pleading noted, in
pertinent part, that:
ft]he desegregation plan approved by the
Court on February 9, 1970 projected the
continued existence of 22 all black or
predominantly black schools which were
all black schools under the dual school
system. . . . Defendants' reports to the
court reflect that these schools, and 4
other schools, are operated as all black
or predominantly black schools at the pres
ent time. The plan also projected that 19
all white or predominantly white schools
under the dual school system would continue
their racial identity under the present
plan. Defendants' reports to the court
indicate that the school system presently
operates 15 all white or predominantly
white schools.
Moreover, the present desegregation plan
does not utilize desegregation tools which
have since specifically been approved . . .
such as rezoning and pairing . . . . [R. 37]
However, the government suggested the appointment of a bi-racial
committee (whose, specific membership it proposed) to formulate
3/ A separate phase of the case involving the method of elec
tion to the school board was tried during this period. On
February 27, 1973 the matter was reassigned to District Judge
Scott upon Judge Dawkins' recusal for reasons of health.
-4-
alternative desegregation plans for the school system. The
"Response" appended a suggested Order to this effect (R. 41-
49), which was signed and issued the same date, March 20, 1973.
The Order specifically recited the Court's finding that the
school board had not carried its burden of showing that the one-
race schools were not the result of past or present discrim
inatory action (R. 44-45).
4/
The biracial committee commenced a series of meetings in
the spring of 1973, leading ultimately to its submission to
the District Court on June 1, 1973 of its proposed "desegregation
plan" (R. 82-123). On June 11, 1973, plaintiffs filed objections
to the committee's plan (R. 124-26) requesting disapproval of
its student assignment provisions. Subsequently, the United
States commented upon the committee's plan as follows (R. 130-34)
[T]he student desegregation plan also
proposes the continued operation of 34
one-race or predominantly one-race
schools. With regard to these schools,
the plan does not, as required by the
March 20, 1973 order, state the facts
relied upon to justify their continued
operation, provide options to fully
desegregate them, or state the feasibility
of implementing all or parts of deseg
regation plans for these schools on record
in this case. . . . we are unable to
respond at this time to the question
whether the plan in regard to these
schools conforms with constitutional
standards. [R. 132-33]
4/ The United States cited Calhoun v. Cook, 469 F.2d 1067
(5th Cir. 1972) in support of its implied suggestion that
the biracial committee should seek an agreed settlement of
the case (R. 38-39).
-5-
The Caddo Parish School Board notified the District Court
that it would accept the biracial committee's plan only if
it were entered as a consent decree (R. 135-38).
Also during the spring of 1973, plaintiffs retained edu
cational experts to draw a desegregation proposal for Caddo
Parish; this plan was presented to the biracial committee during
its deliberations and thereafter filed with the District Court
(R. 50-81). Three days after plaintiffs filed objections to
the committee plan, they sought to add additional adult and
minor named plaintiffs to the case, noting that many of the
original minor plaintiffs were no longer attending the Caddo
Parish schools (R. 127-29).
Substitution of Counsel and Entry of Consent Decree
It was at this juncture in the proceedings, while plain
tiffs' motion to add additional representative parties, and
their objections to the biracial committee plan, were both
pending, that a "Motion to Enroll Substitute Counsel" for the
plaintiffs was filed. This document was purportedly submitted
by one of original counsel for the plaintiffs who was then a
State official and unable to continue in his capacity as attorney
for the plaintiffs. It was signed by his law partner, who was
at that time a member of the Caddo Parish School Board. It
contained neither the signatures of other counsel for the plain
tiffs nor representations of knowledge or acquiescence in the
motion. It was unsigned by the attorney sought to be substituted
-6-
i
in place of all of these individuals, to represent the plain
tiffs and the class on whose behalf suit was brought. It was
accompanied by an affidavit signed by one of the original
plaintiffs which indicated that three of the four original
adult named plaintiffs (including one who had been dismissed
from the lawsuit in 1965) desired to discharge their attorneys
and employ new counsel. (R. 139-41).
The day after the "motion" was filed, the Order was signed
by Judge Scott striking original counsel from the case and
substituting therefor Murphy W. Bell, Esq. as attorney for the
plaintiffs and the class (R. 140).
Newly enrolled counsel then filed a motion to strike from
the record, the objections to the biracial committee plan
6/which had been filed previously (R. 154-58); this motion was
granted the same day it was submitted; and on that same day,
without any hearing or notice to the class members, the District
7/Court entered a consent decree approving the biracial committee's
plan (R. 160-61) .
5/ In the meantime, upon receiving the "motion," several of
the former attorneys for the original plaintiffs prepared
and forwarded a response to the District Court (R. 150-52) in
which they suggested that the original named plaintiffs were
no longer fairly representative or could adequately protect the
interests of the class, that the pending motion to add named
plaintiffs should be granted, that new counsel should be allowed
to represent the original named plaintiffs, that the merits of
the plans should first be considered and determination of class
representation matters postponed until after that determination
was made. While the response was in the mail, the District Court
denied the pending motion to add parties plaintiff (R. 144-45) .
6/ and 7/ continued on next page
-7-
The Attempted Intervention
On November 19, 1973, the present appellants filed their
Motion to Intervene as plaintiffs and proposed complaint (R.
170-74, 184-95). As elaborated upon in their supporting
Memorandum (R. 175-83), appellants sought to comply with this
Court's ruling in Hines v. Rapides Parish School Bd., 479 F.2d
762 (5th Cir. 1973) by specifying their claims and indicating
what consideration, if any, had been given them by the District
Court in the prior proceedings- The Motion for Leave to Inter
vene asserted:
Specifically, applicants for intervention
seek to present to the court, for resolution
on their merits, contentions which were
abandoned by the original plaintiffs after
July 13, 1973 and which have never been
explicitly ruled upon by this Court; i.e.,
that the presently operative plan of
desegregation in Caddo Parish is consti
tutionally insufficient. [R. 172]
Applicants for intervention and the class or
subclass they represent are not adequately
represented by the original plaintiffs
herein. Nor are their interests protected
by the United States of America, which was
permitted to intervene as a plaintiff
herein but which acceded to the approval and
implementation of the current plan of operation
despite its earlier expressed position that
[continued] •
<3/ Counsel for the present appellants first saw this motion
when the record on this appeal was withdrawn for purposes
of reproduction.
7/ The United States did not consent but endorsed entry of the
Order in the following statement (R. 160):
-8- [continued next page]
such approval, without a showing to justify
the continued existence of one-race schools,
was improper. [R. 173]
Present appellants also addressed, in their Motion and the
supporting Memorandum, the question of timeliness:
Intervention will not delay nor unduly
prejudice the rights of the original parties.
The presently operative plan of desegregation
was approved by this Court on July 20, 1973,
on the basis that none of the parties had
filed objection thereto [the Court having
permitted new counsel for original plaintiffs
to withdraw previously filed objections]
and without a determination that the plan
meets constitutional standards. Intervening
decision of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit in Calhoun v. Cook, No.
73-2020 (August 21, 1973) will require an
evidentiary hearing and determination on the
merits by this Court in any event. . . .
[R. 173]
On February 4, 1974, the District Court denied leave to
intervene (R. 204—05), finding (a) that the original plaintiffs
adequately represented the class, and (b) that the application
was untimely. (R. 205). As a result, the public schools of
Shreveport remain largely segregated under the District Court's
Order, and unless appellants are permitted to intervene and
challenge that plan, the schools will remain segregated unto
eternity.
[continued]
The present posture of this lawsuit considered,
the United States of America, intervenor here
in, interjects no objection to ordering imple
mentation of this plan, as is more fully set
out in its response filed herein.
That response, of course, had noted the inadequacy of the plan
under Swann.
-9-
ARGUMENT
I
The District Court Erred
In Denying Intervention
Present appellants contend here, as they did before the
District Court, that their intervention is supported by law and
justice, and that their moving papers adequately complied not
only with the technical requirements of F.R. Civ. P. 24(a) and
(b) [governing both mandatory and permissive intervention], but
also with the special considerations governing intervention in
school desegregation actions outlined by this Court in Hines v.
Rapides Parish School Bd., 479 F.2d 762 (5th Cir. 1973) . A
detailed treatment of the Federal Rules issues can be found in
our Memorandum submitted to the District Court (R. 175-83), and
we respectfully refer the Court to that portion of the record.
We shall not duplicate that discussion here but rather seek to
elucidate the most compelling reasons why intervention should
have been allowed.
A. The interests sought to be represented by the appellants
were not adequately protected by the original plaintiffs
in the proceedings before the District Court____________
A classic ground for intervention is to permit the repre
sentation and protection of interests which would be affected by
the outcome of a lawsuit but would otherwise go unheard. Such
a notion forms the basis of F.R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2), setting forth
-10-
the requirements for intervention as of right. There can be no
question but that appellants will be affected by the progress of
this litigation, for minor appellants are public schoolchildren
of Caddo Parish whose school assignments, and chances for re
ceiving their constitutional entitlement of an integrated education,
are entirely dependent upon the orders of the District Court.
Indeed, the lower court's holding is not grounded upon any
lack of an affected interest in appellants, but rather upon
the court's belief that appellants' interests were adequately
represented by the existing parties. That belief is nothing
less than incredible upon this record, which fairly shrieks of
the inadequate representation afforded appellants and the class
they sought to represent.
This case is unlike most of those in which intervention law
in school desegregation suits has been fashioned. Commonly,
these have involved attempts by white parents to intervene in
1order to add their voice to that of the school authorities in
resisting desegregation. E .g., Hatton v. County Dd. of Educ.
of Maury County, 422 F.2d 457 (6th Cir. 1970) ; Stell v. Savannah-
Chatham County Bd. of Educ., 333 F.2d 55 (5th Cir.), cert, denied,
379 U.S. 933 (1964). In such cases, traditionally intervention
as of right has been disallowed since it was evident that no
party could resist integration harder nor more effectively than
the school boards themselves were already doing. See Hatton,
supra, 422 F.2d at 461. And although appellants' right to
ri
-11-
intervene stands on a different footing, the more recent
holdings that white parents in the circumstances outlined above
should be entitled to intervene cannot but support appellants'
position here. See, e.g., Smuck v. Hobson, 408 F.2d 175 (D.C.
Cir. 1968) , rev1g 44 F.R.D. 18 (D.D.C. 1968) ; Dowell v. School
Bd■ of Oklahoma City, 430 F.2d 865 (10th Cir. 1970).
In the instant case, however, the situation is the converse
of that in the cases involving intervention by white parents.
The record clearly establishes that appellants met their "minimal
burden" of demonstrating that representation of their interests
by the original plaintiffs "may be inadequate." Trbovich v.
United Mine Workers of America, 404 U.S. 528, 538 n.10 (1972) .
Here, appellants noted in their moving papers that they joined
in objections to the biracial committee plan originally filed by
the plaintiffs (R. 174). Their interest was the approval of a
constitutional plan of desegregation for Caddo Parish, which
they asserted was not provided by the biracial committee's sub
mission. They posited no hypothetical lack of representation,
for their request to intervene was filed after the original
plaintiffs withdrew the objections and consented to the entry of
a decree which leaves 34 Caddo Parish schools with one-race
8/student bodies.
8/ We treat the issue of timeliness below, but we pause here
to emphasize that the request to intervene was not untimely
simply because it was post-judgment. See Cascade Natural Gas
Corp. v. El Paso Natural Gas Co., 386 U.S. 129 (1967); Atlantis
Development Corp. v. United States, 379 F.2d 818 (5th Cir. 1967).
-12-
r
The point can be stated almost syllogistically. Appellants
claim that the biracial committee plan is unconstitutional. At
the time the District Court approved the plan, no party to the
lawsuit had expressed this position on the record, previous
objections having been withdrawn. The District Court made no
finding as to the constitutionality of the plan when it approved
it (R. 160-61). Thus, appellants' interests were not only not
adequately represented before the District Court at the time of
judgment: their concerns were not even voiced!
Despite these facts, the District Court's order denying
intervention offers no explanation for its bald conclusion that
"[c]onsidering the record, the Court finds that the original
plaintiffs adequately represent the class" (R, 205). Under rhe
circumstances, therefore, the order must be reversed.
B. Appellants complied with the requirements of Hines v.
Rapides Parish School Bd., supra.____________________
This Circuit has required particular clarity of inter
vention papers in school desegregation cases, to the ends of
judicial economy and prompt adjudication. Hines v. Rapides
Parish School Bd., supra; Lee v. Macon County Bd. of Educ., 482
F.2d 1253 (5th Cir. 1973). See Calhoun v. Cook, supra, 487 F.2d
at 683. Appellants were aware of these decisions at the time
of their attempted intervention, and complied with them.
Hines describes the determinations which must be made by
district courts passing upon applications to intervene in school
-13-
I
desegregation cases, and which pleadings should facilitate, as
follows (479 F.2d, at 765):
The district court could then determine
whether these matters had been previously
raised and resolved and/or whether the
issues sought to be presented by the new
group were currently known to the court
and parties in the initial suit. If the
court determined that the issues these new
plaintiffs sought to present had been
previously determined or if it found that
the parties in the original action were
aware of these issues and completely com
petent to represent the interests of the
new group, it could deny intervention.
[emphasis supplied]
The pleadings of the appellants state the issues with clarity.
The issues not resolved in the litigation were the
constitutionality of the biracial committee's plan and the
adequacy of continuing class representation by the original
plaintiffs. The application to intervene did not rest upon
allegations of collusion in the entry of the consent decree,
as did such requests, in part, in Calhoun v. Cook, supra, see
487 F.2d, at 683. Under the circumstances of this case, there
fore, the pleadings need not be reframed, ibid., and this Court
should return the case to the District Court with directions
to permit intervention.
C. Intervention would have corrected the error committed by
the District Court in the substitution of counsel.______
Intervention by appellants was additionally desirable be
cause it would have dissipated the effects of the District
Court's failure to protect the interests of the class on whose
-14-
behalf this suit was brought, both at the time the District
Court permitted substitution of counsel, and at the time it
allowed withdrawal of objections to the biracial committee plan
previously filed and simultaneously entered a consent decree
approving the plan.
This record bears eloquent witness to the unfortunate
failure of the District Court, to shoulder its responsibility
under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Indeed,
it is euphemistic to term the 1970 proceedings in this case as
"highly irregular." The actions of the District Court provide
anything but a lesson in due process.
Plaintiffs' Amended Motion for Further Relief, for example,
elicited no judicial response whatsoever for more than a year.
The same day the United States filed its Response thereto, how
ever, suggesting the novel procedure of placing responsibility
for the development of a new plan not upon the school authorities
but upon a "citizens committee," the Court issued an Order to
this effect. Subsequently, without awaiting or seeking responses
from all of plaintiffs' counsel in this class action, the Court
within one day granted a highly unusual motion to strike all
of plaintiffs' counsel from the case and substitute in their
stead a newcomer to the litigation, nonresident within the judicial
district. Compare, e.g., Local Rule 1(H)(1), U.S. Dist. Ct., E.D.
La •
-15-
Since there was pending before the District Court at that
time, a motion to add additional representative parties plain
tiff which specifically noted that many of the minor original
plaintiffs no longer attended Caddo Parish public schools the
District Court should have been alerted to the problems of
class representation which needed to be resolved. The District
Court only compounded the error when, after receiving a Response
from some of plaintiffs’ original counsel which expressed doubt
that original plaintiffs adequately represented the class (R.
150), it did not reconsider its Order substituting counsel; and
when it subsequently permitted withdrawal of the objections to
the biracial committee plan and compromised this class action
without either notice or hearing. F.R. Civ. P. 23; Calhoun v.
Cook, supra.
These defects could have been vitiated by the granting of
intervention to appellants, for the District Court could then
have entertained the necessary proceedings and held the necessary
hearings to determine the constitutionality of the committee
plan. The denial of intervention thus serves to carry other
District Court errors forward in this cause and makes reversal
even more critical.
D. The intervention was timely.
The District Court denied intervention on two grounds: that
appellants' interests were adequately represented throughout
the proceedings (see above) and that, "[a]t any rate, the Motion
-16-
to Intervene comes too late" (R. 205). This second basis for
decision is no more satisfactory than the first.
If the District Court meant that the intervention would
have been timely only if filed before entry of its consent judg
ment, it was requiring virtually a physical impossibility as
well as a legal irrelevancy. Appellants include many of the
individuals sought to be added as plaintiffs prior to the
substitution of counsel on July 13, 1973. Their present coun
sel were not served with the motion to substitute counsel until
four days prior to the entry of the consent judgment; they did
not become aware that the District Ccurt had granted it (without
allowing them an opportunity to respond) until after- the consent
decree was issued on July 20, 1973. The District Court's order
denying the motion to add additional plaintiffs was denied just
two days prior thereto, on July 18, but again counsel for appel
lants did not receive notice of this action until after the
consent judgment was entered.
Of course, there is no legal support for the notion that
post-judgment interventions are per se untimely. Indeed, this
case bears a striking resemblance to the leading decision in
the area, Cascade Natural Gas Corp. v. El Paso Natural Gas Co.,
supra. There, as here, the district court was confronted with
the problems of "dismantling an illegal structure." Also, as
here, the applicants asserted an interest in how the dismantling
-17-
should be accomplished, pointing out the potential injury
that would be done if the court proceeded in implementing the
divestiture plan as proposed by the United States. Significantly,
after a costly and time-consuming appeal prosecuted by the
applicants, they were permitted intervention by the Supreme Court
after entry of a consent decree.
The District Court's conclusion is no more well-founded
in general terms. Courts have been especially reluctant to
dispose of applications for intervention on grounds of untime
liness. E_. cj_., Cameron v. President. & Fellows, 157 F.2d 993
(1st Cir. 1946) ; Walpert v. Bart, 44 F.R.D. 359, 361 (D. Md.
1968). The most important interests served by time requirements
for intervention are already satisfied here: finality and
avoidance of prejudice to opposing parties.
As to considerations of finality, it is true that the
application to intervene came after the plan of the biracial
committee had been implemented in Shreveport for the 1973-74
school year. However, unlike other types of litigation, decrees
in school desegregation cases are subject to repeated modification
and reopening to insure compliance with current legal standards.
See Ellis v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange County, 465
F.2d 878, 879-80 (5th Cir. 1972), cert, denied, 410 U.S. 966
(1973). It cannot fairly be maintained that intervention by
-18-
1
appellants was sought after this case had "come to rest," since
in this Circuit school desegregation suits must be maintained
on the docket for at least three years following entry of supposedly
"terminal" decrees, Youngblood v. Board of Public Instruction
of Bay County, 448 F.2d 770 (5th Cir. 1971) ; Steele v. Board of
Public_Instruction of Leon County, 448 F.2d 767 (5th Cir. 1971);
V.'right v. Board of Public Instruction of Alachua County, 445 F.2d
1397 (5th Cir. 1971), and even thereafter may be reopened upon
motion. See, e.g., United States v. Hinds County School Bd.
[Lauderdale County School Dist.], No. 28030 (5th Cir., March 20,
1974) .
Nor would intervention, if granted when sought or if ordered
now, prejudice the rights of the other parties. Clearly the
Caddo Parish school authorities have no right to continue
operating an unconstitutional school system. Nor have the
original plaintiffs any right to defeat the constitutional rights
of the class of minor schoolchildren in the Parish by acquiescing
in such a plan. Appellants have not sought midyear disruption
of the biracial committee plan so the parties did not have to
face possible prejudice of that nature, if prejudice to rights
it is. Compare Alexander v. Holmes County Bd. of Educ., 396 U.S.
19 (1969); Carter v. West Feliciana Parish School Bd., 396 U.S.
226 (1969), 396 U.S. 290 (1970).
Furthermore, this case is clearly controlled by Rule 23,
F.R. Civ. P. as authoritatively interpreted in Calhoun v. Cook,
-19-
l
supra, to invalidate approval of desegregation plans by entry
of consent decrees. Thus, if the minimal legal requirements
are to be carried out in this case, there must be further
hearings and findings about the constitutionality of the biracial
committee plan by the District Court. Those hearings had not
been scheduled or held at the time appellants sought to intervene,
nor have they been scheduled or held since that time. For
this reason, none of the other parties to this lawsuit would have
or will suffer the slightest prejudice from the intervention as
plaintiffs of the appellants at this time.
II.
This Case Should Be Remanded To Another
District Judge With Instructions To
Disapprove The Biracial Committee Plan
In the circumstances of this case, we believe the Court
must go farther than merely reversing the District Court's
denial of intervention. We respectfully suggest the Court's
heavy responsibility to insure enforcement of the Fourteenth
Amendment requires that it vacate the Order approving the bi
racial committe's plan and remand the matter for further pro
ceedings before another district judge, with instructions that
the committee plan is facially insufficient on this record to
meet the constitutional mandate.
-20-
A. A reversal of the intervention ruling alone, or with a
remand to the District Court to reconsider its approval
of the biracial committee plain will lead only to delay
and is unnecessary since the holding and principles of
Calhoun v. Cook, 487 F.2d 680 (5th Cir. 1973), are so
clearly controlling._______________________ ___________
A ruling by this Court that appellants should have been
permitted to intervene but which did not also vacate the
District Court's consent judgment approving the biracial
committee plan for Caddo Parish would insure yet another delay
in the effectuation of the Fourteenth Amendment in the parish's
school system. We submit that, inasmuch as appellants sought
to intervene to challenge the plan and even brought this Court's
disapproval of consent decrees in school desegregation cases to
the attention of the District Court, and since Calhoun v. Cook,
supra, is so clearly applicable to the facts of this suit, that
this Court should vacate the lower court's approval of the plan
and obviate unnecessary delay which would result from remanding
to the District Court for consideration in light of Calhoun and
with the participation of appellants as intervenors.
As this Court said in Calhoun:
At least some of the attorneys representing
the original plaintiffs assert no such
compromise was made. The attempted inter
venors sought to demonstrate that still other
parties whom they assert are class members
would object. In these circumstances the
advisability of approval and the viability
of the plan submitted could not properly be
adjudicated on the basis oil Rule 23(e) [, F.R.
Civ. P.] . (487 F. 2d, at 682)
Calhoun is but the logical extension of the settled principle
that the judgment of a court approving a settlement of a class
21-
action under Rule 23(e) must be founded on facts. Cohen v.
Young, 127 F.2d 721 (6th Cir. 1942); Sertic v. Cuyahoga Lake,
etc., Carpenters Dist. Council, 459 F.2d 579 (6th Cir. 1972);
cf. Ashback v. Kirtley, 289 F.2d 159 (8th Cir. 1961) . Here, of
course, there was no factual presentation by opponents of the
plan nor did the District Court make factual findings about the
proposals before it, nor draw conclusions as to the legal and
9/constitutional sufficiency of the plan embodied in the decree.
The acquiescence of counsel for the United States, the
defendants, and the named representative plaintiffs did not
relieve the District Court of its obligation to hear evidence
and make findings. Cohen v. Young, sip ra. Accord, Young v.
Katz, 447 F.2d 431 (5th Cir. 1971).
When presented with the consent decree and the acquiescence
of the existing parties, it was the District Court's obligation
— even apart from the peculiar circumstances of withdrawal of
previous objections, etc. — to examine the proposal as the
"guardian" of the rights of the absent class members affected
by the judgment. Norman v. McKee, 431 F.2d 769, 774 (9th Cir.
1970). For a number of reasons, this role is particularly crit-
9/ The District Court refers to the proceedings of the biracial
committee as if to suggest that the presentation of appellants'
objections and proposed plan to that body was a sufficient sub
stitute for judicial consideration (R. 204-05). But the judicial
power, and judicial responsibility, is non—delegable. Cf.
Calhoun v. Cook, supra, 487 F.2d, at 683.
-22-
ical in school desegregation cases.
The first reason stems from the very nature of class
actions to enforce Fourteenth Amendment rights under Brown v.
Board of Educ., 347 U.S. 483 (1954). This Court's illuminating
decision in Flax v. Potts, 313 F.2d 284 (5th Cir. 1963), shows
that by the vary nature of the controversy, litigation attacking
a school system's practice of racial discrimination cannot be
limited in its operative effect to individual plaintiffs. Decrees
in cases challenging entrenched dual systems of segregation
touch upon and determine whether or not discriminatory practices
will continue or be eliminated for each pupil i.n the system.
In some types of class action litigation non-participating
members of the class may exercise an option not to be bound by
the litigation and "opt out" of a case. No such choice is avail—
â-)le to students attending a public school system operated as
a dual system. Either the system is transformed into a unitary
system where all vestiges of discrimination are eliminated or
it continues as an unconstitutional system for all the pupils.
Another reason the court must function as a guardian for
absent parties in considering compromise of a school case is
the fact that the case involves the precious constitutional
rights of persons who are children unable to protect their own
rights. The right of a student not to be segregated on racial
^f^c^^ds in schools so maintained is indeed so fundamental and
-23-
pervasive that it is embraced in the concept of due process
of law." Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 19 (1958). Minors,
unable to protect their own rights in court, must be the subject
of the special solicitude and protection of courts of equity.
The tradition of equity is that infants are "wards of the court."
4 Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence 871 (5th Ed. 1941).
Still another reason proposed settlements of school
segregation litigation must be scrutinized with great care is
that resistance to implementation of the Brown decision has been
so widespread that the courts must constantly guard against
schemes to avoid and evade the law of school desegregation. The
Court is familiar with the history of interposition resolutions,
massive resistance laws, school closing, pupil placement laws,
tuition grants, and other overt and covert plans to evade and
avoid compliance with Brown. Currently there is widespread
political activity against "busing" to promote school desegre
gation. Some black people, as well as white people, have
advocated continuing segregation — particularly those who,
as have some of the actors in the instant case, have attained
positions within the political apparatus still dominated by whites.
In this situation the courts' task of enforcing the Constitution
requires a difficult vigilance to ensure that court-approved
compromises of school cases do not accomplish indirectly that
which the interposition resolutions failed to achieve by direct
defiance of Brown.
-24-
Yet such is clearly the result of the proceedings below,
in which the District Court, which had every reason to doubt
the validity of the consent judgment, ignored its responsibilities
to the absent class members. This action by the lower court
amounts to plain error which is subject to correction on this
appeal. As this Court said in 1971, affirming a district court's
order refusing to permit plaintiffs to dismiss a class action
voting rights suit,
. . . having instituted a public lawsuit to
secure rectification for a constitutional
wrong of wide dimension, [plaintiffs] cannot
privately determine its destiny.
Sheffield v. Itawamba County Bd. of Supervisors, 43 9 F.2d 3 5,
36 (5th Cir. 1971). The discretionary powers of the District
Court in determining whether to approve a proposed settlement
are necessarily limited by the Court's duty to avoid approval
of a decree which affirmatively authorizes continued discrimin
ation (Flax v. Potts, supra; Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1
(1948)) .
In sum, the District Court's action in approving the
biracial committee's plan because it had the "consent" of the
parties, cannot be reconciled with the Court's obligations under
the Fourteenth Amendment and the Judicial Code. ’That order must
be vacated and the cause remanded with instructions to permit
intervention, to hold hearings and to make findings in support
of the ultimate decree of the court.
25-
i-
B. This Court should also instruct the District Court on remand
that the biracial committee plan is unconstitutionally
insufficient on this record because it fails to desegregate
the Caddo Parish public schools.____________________________
We further submit that this Court's decision should also
eliminate the necessity for the District Court to delay the
implementation of a comprehensive desegregation plan for Caddo
Parish by holding hearings or taking additional time to deter
mine whether the biracial committee plan could be constitutional.
The fatal deficiencies of the settlement proposal to eliminate
racial segregation of pupils attending the schools of the Caddo
Parish system are evident and apparent on the face of the plan.
Some objections to the plan would require factual inquiry; however,
looking at the face of the plan and at the documents in this
record, it is clear that the plan's major defects preclude any
approval under this Court's governing precedents.
The plan reveals it will leave 34 one-race schools in
Caddo Parish; it does not employ any assignment technique
except contiguous geographic zoning (often misnamed the "neigh
borhood school" method of assignment). It was characterized
by the Response of the United States, a signatory to the consent
decree, as constitutionally inadequate for its f&ilure to explain
why alternate desegregation proposals for these schools, contained
in the plaintiffs' plan (filed prior to removal of plaintiffs'
counsel) of even the 1969 IIEW plan, were not feasible. No further
explanation was ever offered or accepted.
-26-
Anyone familiar with the course of the development of
school desegregation law in this Circuit would recognize that
more than four years ago — a year before the Swann decision —
this Court required school districts at a minimum to pair
contiguous segregated schools. Caddo Parish has not yet met
the standards applied in such cases as Allen v. Board of
Public Instruction of Broward County, 432 F.2d 362, 367 (5th
Cir. 1970); Pate v. Dade County School Bd., 434 F.2d 1141 (5th
Cir. 1970); Bradley v. Board of Public Instruction of Pinellas
County, 431 F.2d 1377 (5th Cir. 1970); Wright v. Board of
puklic _Jjnstruction of Alachua County, 431 F.2d 1200 (5th Cir.
19,70) ; Henry v. Clarksdale Municipal Separate School Dist., 433.
F.2d 387 (5th Cir. 1.970); Singleton v. Jackson Municipal
Sepa rate S choo1 D i s t., 432 F.2d 927 (5th Cir. 1970). Now, under
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklcnburq Bd. of Educ., 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
and Davis v. Board of School Comm'rs of Mobile, 402 U.S. 33
(1971), the law requires the use of such remedial techniques as
busing, non—contiguous zones, grouping of schools and the like
if necessary to desegregate. See Cisneros v. Corpus Cnristi
Independent School Dist., 467 F.2d 142 (5th Cir. 19/2) ; United.
States v. Texas Educ. Agency, 467 F.2d 848 (5th Cir. 1972).
The Caddo Parish settlement plan approved by the District Court
does not even remotely approach compliance with this standard.
The plan is unconstitutional on its face as a matter of law.
-27-
Each of the black children attending the schools of Caddo
Parish has a "personal and present" constitutional right to
equal protection of the laws. Each of these children has a
right to require that the defendants operate the public schools
in accordance with the Constitution. No one has a right to
demand otherwise. "The Constitution confers upon no individual
the right to demand action by the State which results in the
denial of equal protection of the laws to other individuals."
Shelley v. Kraemer, supra, 334 U.S., at 22. The District Court
had no power to decree otherwise, by "consent" of anyone. Flak
v. Potts, supra. Recently, this Court opined that in this case,
"[e]ight years of litigation between the original parties has
final],y come to an end" (R. 164) . Unfortunately that statement
is wrong. There is but one way to brxng the case to a lawful
end and that is to desegregate the Caddo Parish public schools
as required by the Constitution.
C. This case should be remanded with instructions that it
be transferred to another district judge._____________
It has often been remarked that courts should avoid the
appearance of impropriety as well as impropriety itself. Cf.,
e.g., United States v. Quattrone, 149 F. Supp. 240 (D.D.C. 1957) .
It is in accord with this spirit that appellants reluctantly
and respectfully advise this Court that here, the appearance
of impropriety is great; and we respectfully suggest that it
-28-
would be appropriate for further proceedings on remand in this
matter to be conducted before another district judge, upon
the direction of this Court in the exercise of its supervisory-
jurisdiction and responsibility.
We do not believe that the strange history of these proceed
ings, nor the apparent disregard by the District Court of its
obligations toward the class, need be repeated. We submit,
however, that the events are subject to interpretation which
does not reflect well upon the Courts of the United States. We
allege no impropriety nor do we possess extralegal evidence of
any; yet we cannot brand such an interpretation of the events
as irrational. But the question can best be removed from these
proceedings, we submit, by transferring them to another district
judge or by this Court retaining jurisdiction to approve a
constitutional plan of operation for the Caddo Parish schools.
CONCLUSION
WI-IEREFOP.E, for the foregoing reasons, appellants respec-
fully pray that the Order of the District Court denying intervention
be reversed, that the Order of the District Court approving the
desegregation plan of the biracial committee be vacated, that
either jurisdiction of the cause be retained by this Court or
the cause be remanded to another district judge with instructions
to consider the plaintiffs' plan and any new plan to be submitted
by either the United States or the school board, to make findings
-29
thereon, and to approve and supervise the implementation of a
plan which removes all vestiges of the dual system from Caddo
Parish, as required by the Fourteenth Amendment, the decisions
of the United States Supreme Court and of this Court.
Appellants further respectfully pray that this Court grant
them reasonable attorneys' fees in connection with this appeal
Northcross v. Board of Educ. of Memphis, 412 U.S. 427 (1973),
as well as their costs.
Respectfully submitted.
HILRY HUCKABY, III
501 Petroleum Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
JACK GREENBERG
JAMES M. NABRIT, III
NORMAN J. CHACHKIN
MARGRETT FORD
10 Columbus Circle
New York, New York 10019
Attorneys for Appellants
ADAMS, et al.
-30-
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
i.
I hereby certify that on this 15th day of April, 1974,
I served two copies of the Brief for Appellants Adams, et al.
upon counsel for the appellees herein, by depositing same in
the United States mail, first class postage prepaid, addressed
to each as follows:
Murphy W. Bell, Esq.
617 North Boulevard
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
John R. Pleasant, Esq.
1004 Mid South Towers
P. O. Drawer 1092
Shreveport, Louisiana 71163
Hon. Donald E. Walter, Esq.
United States Attorney
Federal Building
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
Brian Landsberg, Esq.
Civil Rights Division
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530
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