Three Years in Mississippi by James Meredith

Three Years in Mississippi by James Meredith

Author:James Meredith [Meredith, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, Discrimination & Race Relations, History, Americas, United States
ISBN: 9781496821027
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2019-02-01T05:00:00+00:00


Judge DeVane’s Dissent: July 10, 1962

After the federal court of appeals’ opinion of June 25, ordering my admission, Judge DeVane filed a dissent in which he agreed with most of the appellate court’s finding, but would have sustained the district court on the University’s contention that the basis of its conclusions was that I would become a “troublemaker” and that my admission to the University would be “nothing short of a catastrophe.”

Considered as a brief in support of appellant’s case, the decision of Judge Wisdom is a masterpiece. I agree with almost everything he has to say in the opinion about the defense advanced by appellees and I further agree that appellees scraped the “bottom of the barrel” in their efforts to keep Meredith out of the University of Mississippi. In so doing appellees weakened their case very much before this Court for on every ground save one the defenses advanced are not deserving of serious consideration by this Court.

The one defense that leads me to dissent is the fear expressed by the appellees that Meredith would be a troublemaker if permitted to enter the University of Mississippi. Judge Wisdom sets out the evidence forthrightly in his opinion dealing with this issue and reaches the conclusion that it too is not a valid defense to the efforts of appellees to keep appellant out of the University. Considering the facts as he outlines them in his opinion, I disagree with the Court’s conclusion on this issue.

Judge Mize heard the case, observed appellant throughout the trial and reached the definite conclusion from appellant’s testimony, his conduct and other testimony that was offered that Meredith would be a troublemaker if permitted to enter the University. Under such circumstances, the opinion of Judge Mize is entitled to more weight than any conclusion that could be reached by Court of Appeals Judges where their opinion is based upon a cold, printed record of the facts at issue. This conclusion is supported by the last sentence in Judge Wisdom’s opinion on this point, when he states:

“Another short answer (to the defendants’ contention) is that Meredith’s record shows just about the type of Negro who might be expected to try to crack the racial barrier at the University of Mississippi: a man with a mission and with a nervous stomach.”

In considering this matter, I recognize that the appellees never have, and probably never will, approve the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al…. Nevertheless, my approach to this issue, and I am sure it was the approach of Judge Mize, is the same as my approach to many laws District Judges are called upon to enforce where the District Judge would prefer that the law was otherwise. This had never deterred me in following the mandates of Congress and the Supreme Court insofar as the laws of the United States are concerned, and I am sure that it would not deter Judge Mize



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