ABSTRACT
The Supreme Court's caution in separating the implementation phase of the Brown decision and the moderation of its "all deliberate speed" decree paid off in some states - largely in border states - where steps were taken without delay and without turmoil toward the integration of schools. The consequences are great for Court and country. For the justices power means responsibility, a responsibility the more weighty because the Supreme Court so often has the last word. The Constitution does not explicitly provide for its enforcement by the federal courts, but the text - including the grant of jurisdiction over cases arising under the Constitution - indicates that expectation. Justice Black has emphasized the duty of judges to preserve individual liberty, and has argued that excessive deference to other branches of government amounts to abdication of that responsibility. The relationship of the Federal Government to the states was a central concern of the men who wrote the Constitution.
