Legal Defense Fund Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Upset Conviction of Rev. Shuttlesworth
Press Release
August 24, 1964

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Press Releases, Volume 1. Legal Defense Fund Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Upset Conviction of Rev. Shuttlesworth, 1964. 8144573c-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/948134b6-2519-412c-8bed-797b2d01bc93/legal-defense-fund-asks-us-supreme-court-to-upset-conviction-of-rev-shuttlesworth. Accessed October 12, 2025.
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10 Columbus Circle New York, N.Y. 10019 JUdson 6-8397 NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund PRESS RELEASE De: Ailes Knight Chalmers Director Counse en ees FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE denicate Cocos August 25, 1968 Constance Baker Motley DEFENSE FUND APPEALS FREEDOM RIDER CASES TO SUPREME COURT Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Supreme Court was asked today to reverse the breach of peace and unlawful assembly convictions of 11 "Yale Freedom Riders" in an appeal by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Fund lawyers offered many arguments on behalf of the seven Negroes and four whites, several of whom are prominent leaders in the civil rights movement. These Freedom Riders were arrested on May 25th, 1961, in the Montgomery, Ala. bus terminal when they sat at the lunch counter seeking service, According to the Defense Fund brief, the convictions violated the due process clause of the 14th Amendment in that there is no evidence of guilt. The attorneys also argue that the statutes under which the Freedom Riders were prosecuted are vague and indefinite and therefore give no fair warning of punishable conduct. Fund attorneys further argued that the Freedom Riders arrest and conviction violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the law, since state agents enforced racial discrimination, In addition, the Fund contended, the Freedom Riders were denied freedom of assembly, which is guaranteed by the lst Amendment. (more) Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 EH & Defense Fund Appeals es Freedom Rider Cas -2- August 25, 1964 Further arguments by Defense Fund attorneys pointed out the federal ban on discrimination in interstate travel facilities, and the unlawful burden on commerce thus imposed. The civil rights advocates also stressed the fact that a lower federal court -=- though refusing to stop the Alabama prosecutions -- specifically noted that such action was designed to enforce racial segregation. The final contention of the Defense Fund brief was that the arrests and convictions violated the constitutional ovoron of due process, since the Alabama Guardsmen permitted the ' Freedom Riders to sit at the lunch counter, and then signalled ¢ for thei@arrest. The Freedom Riders were thus "entrapped" by state officials, ‘Fund attorneys stated. At the time, they were being escorted by the Alabama WNational Guard, which had been assigned to protect them from an angry white crowd assembled across the street. At their trial, it was asserted that the presence of the crowd made it likely that their sitting at the lunch counter 2y would provoke violence. The Guard officials, however, did not pee attempt to prevent the Freedom Riders from crossing the waiting i€ room to the lunch counter. = Among the plaintiffs in the case are Rev. Ralph Abernathy, — Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and Dr, Bernard Lee, all of Rev. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Also appealing is Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, currently on leave from his SCLC post to work as vice president in charge of marketing for the Educational Heritage Foundation, a venture in ~ : publishing books on Negro history. (more) p e Defense Fund Appeals Freedom Rider Cases -3- August 25, 1964 7 Another defendant is Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Chaplain of Yale University. The remaining appellants are all ministers and teachers of theology, with the exception of George B. Swith, who was at that time a student at Yale Law School. Mr. Smith is currently an assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund's New York City headquarters. ; Fund Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg and Associate Counsel Constance Baker Motley led a battery of ten lawyers in preparing the Freedom Rider appeal. o Appearing with them on the brief were James M, Naber, of the Fund's staff, Fred D. Gray, a cooperating attorney ‘from Montgomery, and Louis H. Pollak, Professor of Law at Yale é University. Of counsel were Leroy D. Clark, Charles S. Conley, Ronald R. Davenport, Frank H. Heffron, and Solomon S. Seay, Jr. wa l? = a0<