Defense Fund Petitions U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Shuttlesworth Case

Press Release
February 16, 1962

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. Defense Fund Petitions U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Shuttlesworth Case, 1962. a86762fa-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/e337b075-3249-4dba-be55-4a8b9ba7d146/defense-fund-petitions-us-supreme-court-to-hear-shuttlesworth-case. Accessed October 08, 2025.

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    PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
TO COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEWYORK19,N.Y. e« JUdson 6-8397 
DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS ; JACK GRE President Mo CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 

ao Associate Counce 
B25 

DEFENSE FUND PETITIONS U. S. SUPREME COURT 
TO HEAR SHUTTLESWORTH CASE 

February 16, 1962 

NEW YORK - The U, S, Supreme Court was petitioned this week 

to review the convictions of Birmingham, Ala, Negro leaders 

Fred Shuttlesworth and Charles Billups. The ministers were 

arrested for inciting ten Negro students to conduct sit-in 

demonstrations in Birmingham in March, 1960. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund petition 

asks the high court to review a judgment of the Alabama 

Court of Appeals of May 30, 1961 which upheld the minister's 

convictions, 

Tried in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Rev. 

Shuttlesworth was sentenced to 180 days in jail and a $100 

fine, while Rev. Billups received the lesser sentence of 30 

days in jail and $25 fine. 

The two ministers were accused of inviting students 

from Daniel Payne College in Birmingham to Rev. Shuttlesworth's 

house on the night of March 30, 1960, where Rev. Shuttlesworth 

asked for volunteers to participate in sit-in demonstrations. 

The next day ten youths sat-in at five store lunch 

counters in Birmingham, They were arrested for "trespassing 

after warning," convicted and sentenced to thirty days hard 

labor and fined $100 each. Legal Defense Fund attorneys 

petitioned the U. S, Supreme Court to hear their cases last 

month, 

The ministers’ petition for certiorari becomes the tenth 

"sit-in" case pending before the U. S, Supreme Court. Five 

of the cases are from Virginia, two from Maryland, one from 

North Carolina, and two from Alabama. 

NAACP Defense Fund attorneys for the Negro ministers are 

Arthur D. Shores, Orzell Billingsley, Peter A. Hall, Oscar 

Adams, and J. Richmond Pearson of Birmingham, Ala.; and Jack 

Greenberg, Constance Baker Motley, Leroy Clark and James M, 

Nabrit, III, of New York City.

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Defense Fund Petitions U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Shuttlesworth Case

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