Nation IN BRIEF : MISSISSIPPI : Court Asked to Cite Colleges Over Race

The Bush Administration asked the Supreme Court to rule Mississippi’s state colleges and universities illegally segregated. In asking the high court to overturn a lower court’s finding, the Justice Department said Mississippi uses race-based admissions rules to keep a system of white and black colleges. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ September, 1990, finding that Mississippi had ended segregation was incorrect, the government brief said. It said that Mississippi perpetuates segregation by using scores on the American College Testing Program (ACT) as the basic admissions criterion. Until James Meredith was admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962, the state ran a segregated system.