After the case Brown v. Board of Education established that segregation was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court mandated that all schools be desegregated. However, it was not clear how this was to be done. Eventually, in Brown II, the Court asked that desegregation be carried out "with all deliberate speed."
Many people criticized this order as too ambiguous. The criticism appears to have been fair, as it seems to have allowed Southern states to avoid integration for years. Many school districts resisted, delayed or avoided significant integration through various strategies, and the Court was unable to enforce a clear action. Therefore, the implementation of the Supreme Court order was not very successful.