Sweatt v. Painter 1950

On June 5, 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its decision in the case Sweatt v. Painter. In 1946 an African American, Heman Marion Sweatt, applied for admission to the law school at the University of Texas in Austin; at the time, the president of the university was Theophilus Painter. The Texas constitution, however, prohibited integrated education; therefore, Sweatt was denied admission because of his race. He filed suit, but a Texas trial court delayed the case for six months to give the state time to establish a “separate but equal” law school for blacks in Houston; that law school would eventually evolve into Texas Southern University. Sweatt challenged this step in the Texas Court of Civil Appeals, which affirmed the trial court’s ruling. After the Texas Supreme Court refused to hear the case on appeal, Sweatt, represented by William J. Durham and Thurgood Marshall (the future U.S. Supreme Court justice), appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The fundamental legal question the case presented was whether the University of Texas admissions policy violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Court unanimously held that it did and ruled that Sweatt be admitted to the University of Texas Law School. In its ruling, written by Chief Justice Frederick Moore (Fred M.) Vinson, the Court stated that the law school for “Negroes,” which had begun operation in 1947, was not equal to the University of Texas Law School in such matters as course selection, faculty, the library, and prestige. Further, the Court found that the proposed law school’s separation from the University of Texas Law School would make it difficult for its graduates to compete in the legal profession.