United States v. Louisiana

751 F. Supp. 621, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14678
District Court, E.D. Louisiana·Decided October 30, 1990·No. Civ. A. No. 80-3300·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ORDER & REASONS

CHARLES SCHWARTZ, Jr., District Judge.

Pursuant to Paragraph 3 of the Order of September 21, 1990 [R.Doc. No. 541], the parties have submitted in writing any objections to the proposed remedial order attached as Exhibit A of that Order (the “Proposed New Plan”).1 The Court rules as follows.

The following parties have responded to the Order: the United States of America; the State of Louisiana, appearing through Charles E. Roemer III, Governor of the State of Louisiana, the Board of Regents of the State of Louisiana (“Regents”), the Board of Trustees for the Louisiana State Colleges and Universities (“Trustees”), and the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State Universities and Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges (“LSU”), jointly; the Board of Supervisors of Southern University and A & M College (“Southern”); William J. Guste, Attorney General of the State of Louisiana, amicus curiae; and the Grambling State University Alumni Association (“GSUAA”), amicus curiae.

The Attorney General’s response is rejected out of hand as not being responsive to this Court’s Order. He responds by alleging that the Proposed New Plan is unnecessary and seeks execution of identically the same order and activity that has been stayed earlier by the Supreme Court. He further alleges that the prior orders are appealable as a final judgment. Whether this Court’s prior remedial orders were appealable is immaterial, for it addresses the wrong question: in the order of remand, the Fifth Circuit specifically contemplated this Court’s revising its remedial plan:

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the motions to remand filed by the State of Louisiana, acting through its Governor, Charles E. “Buddy” Roemer, III, and by the United States of America, are GRANTED, and the cause is remanded to the district court so that it, in the first instance, may make the desired scheduling or implementation dates or related adjustments to its challenged orders and consider the pending matters concerning representation of the State, as well as act on matters ancillary or related to any of the foregoing, including any request for stay.

The Court can only conclude that this unresponsive reply is designed to delay any ultimate resolution of this case. On the one hand, any revision to the Proposed New Plan will not, in any way, prevent any party from filing an appeal. On the other, the Court’s revision of the remedial plan will obviate any unnecessary waste of judicial time and expense of all the parties in the event that the plan is affirmed on final appeal and will make it unnecessary to remand the matter to this Court for a new time table. It should be obvious to any attorney that the Court’s sole purpose of requesting revisions to the Proposed New Plan was to provide for an orderly and expeditious resolution of this case, reserv[624]*624ing all rights to appeal. There- is a trite saying that “justice delayed is justice denied.” To accede to the Attorney General’s “objections” could result in needless delay.

The United States responds that it has no new objection to the Proposed New Plan and fully reserves all its objections previously filed on August 1, 1989.

The objections of the State, Regents, Trustees, and LSU contain merit. In some instances, the Court has - fixed dates that are too ambitious; accordingly, the Court revised the Proposed New Plan as follows:

Paragraphs 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 28, 32, 34A and 35 are amended to provide for 30 additional days.
Paragraph 15 is amended to provide for “the second school year following the Implementation School Year.”

The Orders of July 19 and August 4, 1989 were “keyed to” dates that were effective from the date of entry of those orders by the Clerk of this Court, whereas the Proposed New Plan is keyed to the “Implementation Date” and the “Implementation School Year.” Accordingly, in order to insure proper supervision of any remedial plan for the same period of time, it is appropriate to extend the term of the injunction to seven years. Nothing herein, however, would preclude a party at some later date from moving to dissolve the injunction on the basis that the goals of the remedial order have been accomplished.

GSUAA’s objection is limited to a clarification whether or not the provisions of footnote 16 on page 18 of the July 19, 1989 order, 718 F.Supp. at 509, were encompassed in the Proposed New Plan by implication. The answer to that concern is an unequivocal “yes.” Nothing in the Proposed New Plan is intended to affect the findings discussed on pages 1 through 28 and the first and second paragraphs of page 29 of the July 19, 1989 order, 718 F.Supp. at 502-515.

Southern’s cryptic objection attacks the jurisdictional basis of this Court to issue its previous Orders and in no way suggests any revision to the Proposed New Plan. The Court rejects Southern’s argument. If, as the Supreme Court implied, this Court lacks the jurisdiction to sit as a three-judge court in this matter, then necessarily this Court has the jurisdiction to sit as a one-judge court to adjudicate the United States’ .claim that Louisiana, in practice, is violating Title VI and the Fourteenth Amendment. To hold otherwise would result in an untenable “Catch 22.”

The Court rejects all other objections to the Proposed New Plan and would enter a final Order herein in the form annexed hereto as Revised Exhibit A. Thus, if the Judgment to be entered hereinafter with respect to the motion for summary judgment and dismissal of this action is reversed on any appeal, the remedial order set forth in Revised Exhibit A shall be considered the Order of this Court without the necessity of any further hearing.

REVISED EXHIBIT A

United States District Court Eastern District of Louisiana

United States of America versus State of Louisiana

Civil Action No. 80-3300

Section “A”

ORDER

This matter is before the Court on remand from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for amendment to the District Court’s Opinion and Order entered July 19, 1989,1 as amended by the Court’s Supplemental Order of August 4, 1989,2 for the purpose of updating and amending the deadlines set forth in those Orders. Thus, pursuant to the special master’s final report, with modifications by the Panel adopted nunc pro tunc by the Judge of Section “A,” IT IS [625]*625HEREBY ORDERED that the Opinion and Order and Supplemental Order be and the same are HEREBY AMENDED to read as follows:

Single Governing Board

1. Within 60 days of the Implementing Date,3 the four boards currently governing public higher education in Louisiana shall be disbanded and their powers consolidated into a single state governing board. The new board (“board”) shall be given ultimate authority over academic, budgetary, personnel and administrative affairs of each of the public institutions currently overseen by the Board of Trustees, the Southern Supervisors and the LSU Supervisors. Additionally, the board shall be given the special mission of monitoring and implementing the remedial Order of the Court and of insuring that progress toward eliminating Louisiana’s racially dual education system is achieved.

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United States v. Louisiana, 751 F. Supp. 621, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14678 (E.D. La. 1990).

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