The Law: Control Question

In open defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court, Virginia's tobacco-growing Prince Edward County (pop. 14,120) closed down all its public schools in June 1959 rather than desegregate them. The doors have stayed shut ever since—but last week Federal District Judge Oren R. Lewis shoved Prince Edward a long way closer toward compliance with the law of the land.

After the public schools closed, the county's leaders immediately established the Prince Edward School Foundation—a "private" school system that currently educates 1,500 white children. Originally financed by voluntary public contributions, the foundation last year received state and county...