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January 7 & 8
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1948
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January 12
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1948
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Sipuel v Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, et al
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332
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631
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305 US 337 68 S Ct 29992 L Ed 247 1948 US LEXIS 2645
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Judgment for the State, District Court of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 199 Okla 36 affirmed, ( Supreme Court Of The State Of Oklahoma 1946) 180 P2d 135
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1946-1949
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Per Curiam
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US Const Amend XIV
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'', is a
1948 United States Supreme Court case, volume 332 U.S. 631 (
Per Curiam ). The case dealt with the
Fourteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution .
Ada Lois Sipuel (
February 8 ,
1924 –
October 18 ,
1995 ), born in
Chickasha ,
Oklahoma was the daughter of a minister. Her brother planned to challenge
Segregationist policies of the
University Of Oklahoma , but went to
Howard University Law School (in
Washington, D.C. ) in order not to delay his career further by protracted litigation.
Ada Sipuel was willing to delay her legal career in order to challenge segregation. On January 14, 1946, she applied at the University of Oklahoma (at the time, an all white law school), the only taxpayer funded law school in the State of Oklahoma at the time, and was denied because of race (''“color”'').
She then petitioned
District Court of
Cleveland County, Oklahoma . Her
Writ Of Mandamus was refused. The
Supreme Court Of The State Of Oklahoma upheld the decision of the lower district court (in 180 P.2d 135), the petitioners then appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Two years later, in 1948, the United States Supreme Court herd the petition on January 7
th and 8
th, that stated: “petitioner is entitled to secure legal education afforded by a state institution.” They continued that: “The State must provide it for her in conformity with the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and provide it as soon as it does for applicants of any other group.” Citing the 1938 case: ''".
The court ruled, on January 12
th, that the state of Oklahoma must provide instruction for Blacks equal to that of Whites, requiring the admission of qualified black students to previously all-white state law schools, reversing the Supreme Court of Oklahoma decision. The same ruling was handed down two years later in a parallel case ''
Sweatt V. Painter '' - (in which Heman Marion Sweatt was refused admission to the
University Of Texas School of Law on the grounds that the
Texas State Constitution prohibited integrated education).
The petitioners, acting on behalf of Miss Sipuel, were
Thurgood Marshall of New York City, and Amos Hall, of
Tulsa (also on the brief Frank D. Reeves). The respondents, representing the defendants, the university and the State of Oklahoma, were Fred Hansen, of
Oklahoma City , the First Assistant Attorney General of Oklahoma, and Maurice H. Merrill, of
Norman (also on the brief Mac Q. Williamson, Attorney General). This was a landmark case in the early civil rights movement. The case reversed ''
Lee V. State Of Mississippi '', and was also a precursor for ''
Brown V. Board Of Education '' - .
According to
Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens , who sat in the gallery and watched Marshall argue the case before the court on Thursday, January 8, 1948, Marshall was: “respectful, forceful and persuasive - so persuasive that on the following Monday - only four days after the argument - the Court unanimously ruled in Sipuel's favor.” In addition, Ada Sipuel was: “not only an excellent student, but was welcomed by her classmates who did not agree with the exclusionary policy that the State had unsuccessfully tried to defend.”
Address to the American Bar Association - John Paul Stevens - August 6, 2005
A garden, located between Jacobson Hall and Carpenter Hall, on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, now stands in honor of this event.
