NAACP Legal Defense Fund Intervenes in Rights Act Test by Alabama Citizen

Press Release
October 2, 1964

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NAACP Legal Defense Fund Intervenes in Rights Act Test by Alabama Citizen preview

LDF Aids Justice Dept. Suit Asking Supreme Ct. to Invalidate Ala. Dist. Ct. Ruling That Public Accommodations Section of Civil Rights Act is Unconstitutional

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  • Press Releases, Volume 1. NAACP Legal Defense Fund Intervenes in Rights Act Test by Alabama Citizen, 1964. 56d6634e-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/d75e1b4c-9942-479e-92dc-4352189760fe/naacp-legal-defense-fund-intervenes-in-rights-act-test-by-alabama-citizen. Accessed December 04, 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 Allan Knight Chalmers 
Director-Counsel 

Jack Greenberg 
Associate Counsel FOR RELEASE 

Constance Baker Motley Friday 
ss 

October 2, 1964 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND 
INTERVENES IN RIGHTS ACT 
TEST BY ALABAMA CITIZEN 

WASHINGTON--The U.S. Supreme Court was asked to strike down an 

Alabama District Court ruling which said the public accommodations 

section of the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional. 

Attorneys of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund today filed an 

amicus curiaw brief in the Justice Department's case against 

Ollie McClung, Sr., Birmingham restaurant owner. 

The Alabama District Court asserted that the public 

accommodations section of the Act is an exercise of "naked power" 

by the Congress which is unsanctioned by the Constitution. 

Jack Greenberg, director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense 
Fund, and his associates assert that Congress did have the power 
to enact the law being questioned. 

They added that Mr. McClung's attack on the Civil Rights Act 
presents danget in that. "the.fotcge and effettiveness-of the-Act 
may be weakened, even temporarily, by a restrictive construction." 

"Even an inadvertent or implied restriction on the coverage of 
the Act could cripple it immeasurably." Mr. Greenberg asserts, by 
undermining the pattern of voluntary compliance which has 
emerged in many localities as well as by its effect on enforcement 
proceedings in many lower courts." 

The Legal Defense Fund's brief stressed three reasons as to 
why "Ollie's Barbecue" falls under the Civil Rights Act: 

*It is a place of public accommodation within the Act in 
that it ‘offers to serve interstate travelers." 

*Mr. McClung failed to establish that he does not actually 
serve interstate travelers. “The most logical inference 
from the record is that he does," the Fund's brief states. 

*The evidence concerning this restaurant establishes that a 
substantial portion of the food which "Ollie's Barbecue” 
services has moved in commerce. 

The Fund, in filing its amicus brief, pointed out that it 
has been, for many years, “the principal organization regularly 
representing Negro citizens claiming denials of equal protection 
of the laws, due process of law, and other’ rights secured by the x 
Constitution.” ‘ 

Mr. Greenberg was joined by Fund attorneys Constance Baker 
Motley, Associate Counsel, and James M. Nabrit, III, Assistant ; 
Counsel. Charles L. Black, Jr. of New Haven, «Connecticut was - 

of counsel. & . 

= 60:< 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Rlverside 9-8487 <P> SO

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