In April of 1949, William T. Lewis, a Black student, applied for admission to the first-year class of the College of Law of the University of Florida. He was qualified in all aspects to be accepted as a student but was denied admission because of his race. He took his case to the Supreme Court of Florida. Lewis claimed that the University of Florida was the only tax-supported university in the state that offered courses in law. He argued that the refusal to admit him because he was Black was illegal, and a denial of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed to him by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Board claimed they offered Lewis the opportunity to secure instruction in law at a university or college outside the State of Florida, where Black students were eligible for admission. As an alternative, they offered to enroll him at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College. The Court ruled that every question raised in this case had been considered and decided in the case, Hawkins v. Board of Control (1950), and Lewis lost the case.