Review of Topeka School Case Ordered

THE Supreme Court on April 20 told a federal appeals court to review its finding that the Topeka, Kan., school system has not done enough to end segregation.

The high court, returning to a case that dates back to its landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, said the appeals court should review the Topeka case in light of two Supreme Court rulings that make it easier for schools to get out of long-standing desegregation orders.

In another case, the Supreme Court has agreed to decide if it should limit the role federal judges can play in determining if a state convict was denied his so-called Miranda rights.

The court said April 20 that next term it will review a case out of Michigan that could make it rare for a court on federal appeal to be permitted to order a new trial because of a Miranda violation. The Miranda rule, written in 1966 by the Supreme Court, says all criminal suspects must be told prior to interrogation by police that they have a right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning.

The Supreme Court also let stand a decision that a teacher at a Roman Catholic school could be denied state unemployment compensation benefits after being fired because she got married in a Protestant church. The justices, without comment, refused to disturb the split decision of a Pennsylvania court allowing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to deny benefits to teacher Maria Wesley.

In another case, the Supreme Court let stand a decision that prosecutors who use evidence of an uncharged act to enhance the sentence of a convict cannot later use the same evidence as the basis for a second trial.