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—Earl Warren briskly read the court's unanimous decision, which, he announced, will be followed in due course with a full written opinion: "In view of the imminent commencement of the new school year at the Central High School of Little Rock," the court deemed it important to make a prompt announcement of its decision. "It is accordingly ordered that the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, dated August 18, 1958 ... be affirmed"; i.e., the school board's plea for more time was denied.
Make It Orderly. With utter finality, the Supreme Court had spoken to the bridge burners. Now it remained for law-enforcement agencies to build a new bridge. Anticipating the court's decision, Attorney General Rogers had written two remarkable letters to Little Rock. One advised the school board president that the Justice Department was ready to help him get federal injunctions against anyone who violated federal court orders. The other reminded City Manager Dean Dau-ley that state authorities were primarily responsible for law and order. But the U.S. marshal and more than 100 deputy marshals would be on hand to cooperate.
Two and one-half hours after the Supreme Court's ruling, President Eisenhower added prestigious emphasis to the Federal Government's earnest plans for orderly compliance with the law. Said the President: "I appeal to the sense of civic responsibility that animates the vast majority of our citizenry to avoid defiance of the court's orders ... All of us know that if an individual, a community or a state is going continuously and successfully to defy the rulings of the courts, then anarchy results ... I hope that all of us may live up to our traditional and proud boast that ours is a government of laws. Let us keep it that way."