CIVIL LIBERTIES DOCKET
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS ISSUE
U. S. Supreme Court and Integration Cases
In a series of decisions this spring, the U. S. Supreme Court rejected exhaustion of administrative remedies and states' rights arguments in integration cases. Chief Justice Warren wrote most of the opinions for the majority of eight. Justice Harlan stood alone in his separate concurring opinions in some cases, and dissents in others:
Other U. S. Supreme Court Opinions Reported
- Johnson v. Virginia, 42.14
- McNeese v. Bd. of Educ., 522.Ill.3
- Goss v. Bd. of Educ., 522.Tenn.6
- Wright v. Georgia, 551.Ga.4
- Watson v. Memphis, 551.Tenn.6
- Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 552.Ala.5
- Lombard v. Louisiana, 552.La.2
- Avent v. North Carolina, 552.NC.3
- Peterson v. Greenville, 552.SC.8
- Colorado Anti-Discrimination Comm. v. Continental Airlines, 574.10
Civil liberties:
- Wheeldin v. Wheeler, 222.1
- Gibson v. Fla. Legislative Investigation Comm., 272.10
Due process:
School Integration Moves Apace
- Lynumn v. Ilinois, 353.16
- Sanders v. U.S., 453.1
The U. S. Supreme Court has now spoken out sharply against school boards which assume they can be as "deliberate" (and slow) to move on integration as they might have been nine years ago when Brown v. Bd. of Educ. was first handed down. The Court rejected an Illinois board's insistence on exhausting administrative remedies (in McNeese, 522.Ill.3) and Tennessee boards' pupil transfer plans (in Goss, 522.Tenn.6). See lengthy quotes from opinions in this issue.
Simultaneously, federal district courts ordered complete desegregation by fall, 1963 in Pensacola (522.Fla.5), Tallahassee (522.Fla.12), Bowling Green (522.Ky.13), Charleston (522.-Mo.2) and Gatesville (522.Tex.20). In one of the few cases filed in a state court, the California Supreme Court proclaimed an affirmative duty on the part of school boards to encourage integration (Jackson v. Pasadena Bd. of Educ., 522.Calif.1).
Nine new suits have been filed for desegregation of schools, including three in Mississippi.
Death of a Plaintiff
Medgar Evers, chairman of the NAACP in Mississippi, filed suit in 1958 to integrate the seating on interstate buses in Memphis, Tenn. (542.4). In March, 1963, Evers filed a school desegregation suit in Jackson, Miss. (522.-Miss.2). In June, 1963, Evers was murdered.
Fifth Circuit and Civil Rights
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the District Court in an important suit for false arrest arising out of a sit-in in Montgomery. The case will be retried. (Nesmith, 304.19).
The Fifth Circuit also set aside an injunction against CORE issued by the District Court in McComb. (Douglas, 541.Miss.-10).
District of Columbia Circuit and Civil Liberties
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed orders by the Subversive Activities Control Board requiring four organizations to register as Communist-front groups under the McCarran Internal Security Act. The Court held that the government had not proved that the American-Soviet Friendship Council (211.4) was controlled by the Communist Party, and that the other three organizations (against whom proceedings were instituted more than 5 yrs. ago) were defunct (211.3, 211.7, 211.12).
The Justice Department arrested Robels (246.1) for working in a defense plant while being a member of the Communist Party, in the first test of the provision of the Internal Security Act making this a crime.
Reapportionment in the Several States
Urban reform precipitated by Baker v. Carr is moving quickly. The U.S.S.C. has agreed to hear six cases in the 1963 term: four involving state legislatures (503.Ala.1, 503.Md.1, 503.-N.Y.1, 503.Va.1) and two challenging Congressional district apportionment (503.Ga.3, 503.N.Y.2).
There are currently pending 69 cases, in 40 of the 50 states, listed in this DOCKET. They involve Congressional districts, State legislative districts, and County government districts.
Announcing a New Category of Cases
The Fourteenth Amendment, §2 provides: "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, . . . But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President . . . or the members of the [State] Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens . . . or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, . . . the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State."
Cases seeking enforcement of this section are reported at 504 hereafter.
Citations to Law Review Material
In the interest of completeness, the DOCKET gives citations to virtually all articles, comments and case notes on civil liberties and civil rights matters published in law student-run law reviews. In the interest of brevity, these law reviews will be cited hereafter by the name of the school only, not the name of the review: E. g., 15 U. Alabama 57-63, 72 Yale 694—721.
New Address
Notice: The CIVIL LIBERTIES DOCKET office has moved for the fifth time in its eight years. We hope this will be its permanent home: 1715 Francisco Street, Berkeley, California 94703.