Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 (1956),[1] was a case heard before a three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on Montgomery and Alabama state bus segregation laws. The panel consisted of Middle District of Alabama Judge Frank Minis Johnson, Northern District of Alabama Judge Seybourn Harris Lynne, and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Rives.[2] The main plaintiffs in the case were Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith.[3] Jeanetta Reese had originally been a plaintiff in the case, but intimidation by segregationists (including threatening phone calls and pressure from a senior police officer for whom she worked) caused her to withdraw in February.[4] She falsely claimed she had not agreed to the lawsuit, which led to an unsuccessful attempt to disbar Fred Gray for supposedly improperly representing her.[5][3]
On June 5, 1956, the District Court ruled 2–1, with Lynne dissenting, that bus segregation is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[1]
The state and city appealed, and the decision was summarily affirmed by the United States Supreme Court on November 13, 1956.[1]
- ^ a b c Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 (M.D. Ala.), affirmed, 352 U.S. 903 (1956) (per curiam).
- ^ "Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 - Dist. Court, MD Alabama 1956 - Google Scholar". Retrieved December 9, 2019.
- ^ a b "Browder v. Gayle, 352 U.S. 903 | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute". Kinginstitute.stanford.edu. April 24, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
- ^ Troy Jackson (2008). Becoming King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making of a National Leader. University Press of Kentucky. p. 117.
- ^ Jeanne Theoharis (2018). A More Beautiful and Terrible History: Beyond the Fables of the Civil Rights Movement. Beacon Press. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-0-8070-7587-6.
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