Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Brown II), 349 U.S. 294 (1955)

A compliance standard with a pace in it and no date.

Verbatim, from the opinion: the cases are remanded to the District Courts “to take such proceedings and enter such orders and decrees consistent with this opinion as are necessary and proper to admit to public schools on a racially nondiscriminatory basis with all deliberate speed the parties to these cases.”

The phrase appears exactly once in the opinion. It names a pace rather than a date. The opinion gives school authorities “the primary responsibility for elucidating, assessing, and solving these problems,” says the “courts will have to consider whether the action of school authorities constitutes good faith implementation,” and puts the burden on the defendants: “The burden rests upon the defendants to establish that such time is necessary in the public interest and is consistent with good faith compliance at the earliest practicable date.”

Corrected 2026-10-02: this record said “the pace is set by the party being ordered to move,” and that “Desegregation stretched across decades inside it,” which it did not source. The opinion remands to the district courts, which “will retain jurisdiction.”

Fetched and read directly. WR does not quote a famous phrase from memory.