U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear South Carolina Protest Appeal

    PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
TO COLUMBUS CIRCLE «+ NEW YORK19,N.Y. ¢ JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President Director-Counsel Associate Counsel 

S25 

U. S. SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR 
SOUTH CAROLINA PROTEST APPEAL May 14, 1962 

NEW YORK - The United States Supreme Court decided this morning to hear 

an appeal of 187 Negro students who were convicted last year in an 

anti-segregation demonstration at Columbia, S. C, 

Though not a sit-in, the Columbia case is the result of a demon- 

stration arising out of the Negro southern sit-in movement. "We are 

gratified that the Court has agreed to hear this case and the important 

civil rights issues it raises," said Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel 

of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund today. Mr. Greenberg 

said he expects the Court to hear the case next November or December. 

Briefs are due August 25. 

The Negro students were arrested on March 2, 1961, when they 

marched in orderly manner on the State House grounds in Columbia. The 

demonstration was designed to attract the attention of state officials 

and the State Legislature, which was in session. 

When police requested the group to leave, the students refused 

and were arrested for “breach of the peace." The warrants charged that 

the demonstration impeded the lawful flow of traffic, and may have 

incited members of watching crowd to violence. 

The Legal Defense Fund petition to the U. S. Supreme Court argued 

that there was no evidence of violence, threatened violence, or inter- 

ference with traffic at the time of the arrests. 

Most of the students who participated in the demonstration were 

from Benedict College in Columbia, but many high school students were 

also involved. 

The Columbia case will be the first Negro protest demonstration 

appeal to come before the Supreme Court since the convictions of sixteen 

Negro students were reversed for sit-ins in Baton Rouge, La. in 

December 1961. 

NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys representing the students are 
Matthew J, Perry and Lincoln C. Jenkins, Jr., of Columbia, S. C., 
Donald James Sampson of Greenville, S. C., and Jack Greenberc, 
Constance Baker Motley, James M. Nabrit, III, and Michael Meltsner of 
New York City. 

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