The Virginians

Since the founding of the republic, the Commonwealth of Virginia has regarded itself as the leader of the South. But never has it seemed more determined to exercise that leadership than in the fight against integration. Last week Governor Thomas Stanley signed a series of bills that gives the South the most elaborate blueprint yet conceived for getting around the U.S. Supreme Court.

At the heart of the program lies a set of budget rulings that would empower the state to withhold funds from any district or county that permits integration. In any school, integration would be a "clear and present danger" to the health and welfare of the pupils. Integration would therefore destroy the efficiency of the school, and only "efficient" schools are entitled to state money.

But what if a community decides to permit integration anyway and support its school on its own? To prevent that--and to make sure that the drastic fundwithholding idea will be only a last resort --the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate passed three supplementary bills to keep segregation as safe as possible: P:The "pupil placement" bill sets up a special board, appointed by the governor, to classify and assign all public-school pupils. If a parent becomes dissatisfied with the board's decision, he will have to appeal to the governor, and, if still dissatisfied, start legal proceedings that would probably take at least two years to get to the U.S. Supreme Court. But what if the bill were then declared unconstitutional? In that case Virginia would simply go on to the next bill on its list. P:The "police powers'" bill declares that the state must invoke its police powers to preserve the public peace. Integration is automatically a threat to the peace; ergo, any school permitting it must be withdrawn from the public-school system. Should the governor fail to persuade the offending school to change its mind, he can either: 1) let its state funds lapse, or 2) order it to reopen on a segregated basis.

The "assembly control'' bill is a variation on the same theme. Wherever there is integration, the General Assembly is now empowered to take over the integrated school at the request of local authorities. Should such a case ever reach the U.S. Supreme Court, the whole problem of states' rights would become involved. The question the court would have to answer: Does a state have the right to interpose itself between its citizens and the Fed eral Government?

Last week some Virginia legislators expressed private doubts as to whether the legal web they have spun will hold up for long. But if these bills fail, Virginia is quite ready to think up others. "Virginians," said U.S. Senator Harry Byrd, "are deliberate, even slow, in coming to drastic measures to protect their rights under the federal constitution. But when they do, they are in for the duration."

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