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. db504e36-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/b0c4988f-19a6-483c-8ec0-9fb5ae5670e3/legal-defense-fund-asks-us-supreme-court-to-upset-conviction-of-rev-shuttlesworth. Accessed July 09, 2025.
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10 Columbus Circle New York, N.Y. 10019 JUdson 6-8397 NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund PRESS RELEASE Oe Atlan Knight Chaimers Director-Counsel eenberg FOR MONDAY, AM PAPERS August 24, 1964 Baker Motley LEGAL DEFENSE FUND ASKS U.S. SUPREME COURT TO UPSET CONVICTION OF REV. SHUTTLESWORTH Washington, D.C,--The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund today (Sunday, August 23rd) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to re- view an Alabama conviction of civil rights leader Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth. The conviction, upheld throughout the Alabama state courts, was for loitering and obstructing a sidewalk, and for refusing to obey a Birmingham police officer. Today's appeal by the Defense Fund represents the seventh legal step in this defense of Rev. Shuttlesworth, who was ar- rested April 4, 1962 and sentenced in a Birmingham City Court to pay a $100 fine and to 180 days at hard labor. Fund Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg, joined in the appeal by Norman Amaker of the Fund's New York headquarters and by Peter A, Hall and Orzell Billingsley, Jr., Fund cooperating attorneys of Birmingham, asserted that there was no evidence in support of the charge. He further argued that the ordinances which Rev. Shuttles- worth allegedly violated are, as applied to his conduct, so vague as to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. The Fund attorneys also pointed out in their petition that Rev. Shuttlesworth has been arrested by the Birmingham police on more than ten charges in the past six years. On March 10th of this year, the Supreme Court upheld é Defense Fund contentions in reversing a 1961 conviction the civil rights leader for alleged interference with the police during a Freedom Ride, an eh cn og y eb E On two previous occasions in the past years, the nation's highest court had also upset convictions of Rev. Shuttlesworth growing out of his active leadership of civil rights-activi- ties in Birmingham. When the Supreme Court reconvenes in the fall, it will consider Defense Fund arguments in five other cases currently being prepared, as well as whether to review Rev. Shuttles- worth's conviction. = S0r= Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487