Justice Felix Frankfurter demanded that the opinion in 1955's Brown v. Board of Education II order desegregation with "all deliberate speed".

[4][4] At the last minute, however, both HEW and the Justice Department asked Judge William Harold Cox for extensions until December 1, claiming that the plans would result in confusion and setbacks.

[4][Note 1] The Fifth Circuit granted the delay, and no specific date for implementing the desegregation plans was set.

[11] Black reluctantly permitted the delay as supervisory Justice but invited the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to bring the case to the Supreme Court as soon as possible.

[14] The petitioners and others suing the Holmes County Board of Education in Mississippi for failure to desegregate, were represented by Jack Greenberg.

[20] Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Court's only African American, suggested an implementation deadline of January, the beginning of the next school semester.

[26] Republican Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina decried the decision, while praising President Richard Nixon for having "stood with the South in this case" while former Alabama Governor George Wallace said the new Burger court was "no better than the Warren Court," and called the Justices "limousine hypocrites.

"[26] Sam Ervin filed an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which failed, stating freedom of choice was the standard for integration.

"[6] In Mississippi, Governor John Bell Williams promised the establishment of a private school system, but advised against violence.

[29] Ted Kennedy expressed satisfaction to the ruling while Hugh Scott wanted to raise the funding of the HEW to give them the resources needed to implement Alexander.