Cohen v. Public Housing Administration Petition for Rehearing and Brief in Support Thereof

    Ik th e

Ittifrft BUUb (tart of Kppmls
F ob t h e  F if t h  C ircuit  

No. 16866

Q ueen  C o h en ,

—-v,—
Appellant,

P ublic  H ousing  A d m in istration , et al.,

Appellees.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

PETITION FOR REHEARING AND BRIEF 
IN SUPPORT THEREOF

Now comes Queen Cohen, appellant in the above entitled 
cause and presents this her petition for a rehearing and in 
support thereof respectfully shows that rehearing herein 
should be granted for the following reasons, to wit:

(1) The Court erred in holding that appellees were not 
maintaining a policy of enforced racial segregation.

(2) The Court erred in holding that appellant must show 
that she had made formal application for housing and 
actually desired housing furnished by appellees.



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All as will appear in brief in support hereof, which 
follows herein.

Respectfully submitted,

A. T. W alden ,
Suite 200, Walden Building, 
28 Butler Street, 1ST. E., 
Atlanta 3, Georgia

C onstance  B ak er  M otley , 
T htjrgood M arsh all ,

10 Columbus Circle,
New York 18, N. Y.

Attorneys for Appellant.

Certificate of Counsel

The undersigned attorney of record for appellant certi­
fies that the foregoing petition for rehearing is not pre­
sented for purposes of delay but is in his opinion well 
founded in law and fact and proper to be filed herein.

T htjrgood M arshall  
Attorney for Appellant



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BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION 
FOR REHEARING

I

The Court erred in holding that appellees were not 
maintaining a policy o f enforced racial segregation.

The appellees admitted that the Housing Authority of 
Savannah had under construction 2170 dwelling units and 
they were designated and directed for occupancy as follows: 
1120 for Negro occupancy and 1050 for white. There can 
be no question that, as of the time of hearing, Negro and 
white families were living in units separated solely by 
reason of race. Appellees even explained the need for con­
tinuing racial segregation.

II

The Court erred in holding that appellant must show 
that she had made formal application for housing and 
actually desired housing furnished by appellees.

From a factual standpoint, the main difficulty in this 
ease is the long space of time between the incidents com­
plained of and the trial on the merits. The record in this 
case shows the corroborated testimony of appellant that 
she sought and still seeks the advantage of public housing 
on a non-segregated basis. Appellees admit they are main­
taining public housing on a segregated basis.

The right of appellant to non-segregated housing is not 
disputed. However, the opinion of this Court fails to recog­
nize the duty of appellees to maintain the developments in 
conformity with the law regardless of the requests, formal 
or informal, to do so. See Sipuel v. Board of Regents, 332 
U. S. 631 (1948); see also McLaurin v. Oklahoma State- 
Regents, 339 U. S. 637 (1950).



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W herefore , it is subm itted  that substantia l and va lid  
cause fo r  a reh ea rin g  has been  show n and that the re ­
h ear in g  sh ou ld  be granted .

Respectfully submitted,

A. T. W alden ,
Suite 200, Walden Building 
28 Butler Street, N. E. 
Atlanta 3, Georgia

C onstance B aker  M otley 
T hurgood M arshall  

10 Columbus Circle 
New York 18, N. Y.

Attorneys for Appellant

Certificate of Service

This is to certify that on the 22nd day of July 1958 I 
served a copy of the Appellant’s Petition for Rehearing and 
Brief in Support of Application for Rehearing in the above- 
entitled case upon George Cochran Doub, Assistant Attor­
ney General, Civil Division, United States Department of 
Justice, Washington, D. C., Attorney for Appellee Public 
Housing Administration and a copy to Shelby Myrick, Sr., 
Myrick & Myrick, Liberty National Bank Building, Savan­
nah, Georgia, Attorneys for Appellees Savannah Housing 
Authority, et al., by mailing copies to each by air-mail.

T hurgood M arshall  
Attorney for Appellant