High Court to Decide Case of Rights Leader Convicted of Blocking Birmingham Sidewalk

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New York, N.Y. 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
President a 

Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers a bes oe 
og > Director-Counsel 

Jack Greenberg August 25, 1965 

HIGH COURT TO DECIDE CASE OF RIGHTS LEADER 
CONVICTED OF BLOCKING BIRMINGHAM SIDEWALK 

Legal Defense Fund Acts in Behalf of the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth 

WASHINGTON, D, C.--The U.S. Supreme Court this fall will consider 
the appeal of the Rev. Fred L, Shuttlesworth, Birmingham, Ala., 
civil rights leader, who was convicted in 1962 of obstructing a 
sidewalk and failure to obey the order of a policeman, Jack Green- 
berg, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund director-counsel, 
announced today. 

A team of Legal Defense Fund lawyers headed by James M, Nabrit 
III, is scheduled to argue the case Oct. 11, Mr, Greenberg said: 

Rev. Shuttlesworth, a well-known member of Dr. Martin Luther 
King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was convicted » 
under a Birmingham ordinance which makes it unlawful to "stand, 
loiter or walk upon any street or sidewalk in the City so as to® 
obstruct free passage over, on or along said street or sidewalk." 

Another Birmingham ordinance makes it illegal to "stand or 
loiter after having been requested by any police officer to move 
on." 

The minister 
Fund in severai S 
imprisonment at hea 
of fines and costs. 

o has been represented by the Legal Defense 
ne Court cases, was sentenced to 180 days 
labor plus 61 days imprisonment in default 

Rev, Shuttlesworth was arrested during a boycott of downtown 
Birmingham merchants, but testimony intended to show that the 
prosecution was racial harrassment was excluded in the court which 
convicted him. 

According to Birmingham police, Rev. Shuttlesworth and several 
other persons were standing on a street corner engaged in 
conversation when a policeman who had been observing them ordered 
them to move. The civil rights leader was arrested as he 
questioned the officer as to why they could not stand on the side- 
walk, Rey, Shuttlesworth contends that he and a group of friends 
were walking along the sidewalk, and paused for a traffic light 
at a corner, He said a policeman accusted him and told him to move 
on, but positioned himself directly in front of him so he could 
not go forward, 

The minister said that when he attempted to proceed by enterinu 
a nearby department store, the officer followed him and arrested hu, 

Rev. Shuttlesworth was convicted and sentenced in Birmingham 
Recorder's Court. Subsequent appeals to the Alabama appellate 
courts were unsuccessful. 

The Legal Defense Fund brief maintains that Birmingham's 
ordinance against “standing and loitering" is unconstitutional be- 
cause it is “vague and overbroad." 

The appeal also contends that the conviction for refusal to 
obey the lawful orders*of a policeman should be set aside because 
Alabama courts have construed the ordinance to apply only to 
orders of policemen relating to vehicular traffic, 

— EGOS 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Be