In the 13 years since the Supreme Court ordered "all deliberate speed" toward school desegregation, the Deep South has deliberately dallied. Even today in some states, fewer than 6% of Negro students attend classes with whites. Last week the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting in New Orleans, finally made clear that it will not tolerate flagrant evasion of the law.
The court ruled 8-4 that beginning next fall local school authorities must start desegregating all classes from kindergarten through the 12th grade. "Boards and officials administering public schools in this circuit," it said, "have the affirmative duty under the...