Supreme Court Hears Argument on Jury Exclusion of Negroes

Press Release
December 8, 1964

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Press Releases, Volume 2. Supreme Court Hears Argument on Jury Exclusion of Negroes, 1964. 1ad79a7e-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/e92b3c2b-bd84-41bc-ae07-1a33b0b7ff2c/supreme-court-hears-argument-on-jury-exclusion-of-negroes. Accessed December 07, 2025.

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    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, } 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
President 

Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers 
Director-Counsel 

Jack Greenberg 
Associate Counsel 
; Constance Baker Motley FOR RELEASE 

Tuesday = ie 
December 8, 1964 

SUPREME COURT HEARS ARGUMENT 
ON JURY EXCLUSION OF NEGROES 

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

practice utilized by numerous southern communities to systematically 

exclude Negro citizens from juries. 

Constance Baker Motley, associate counsel of the NAACP Legal 

Defense Fund, argued that the 1962 conviction of Robert Swain 

should be reversed. 

While a few Talladega County Negroes are included on the jury 

rolls, they have been consistently struck by prosecutors, Mrs. 

Motley stressed. 

The U.S. Civil Rights Commission's 1961 report indicates that 

this practice is widely used across the deep south. 

Robert Swain, the defendant, was sentenced to death for the 

alleged rape of a white woman. 

The civil rights lawyer pointed out that no Negro has served 

on a trial jury in Talladega County in either civil or criminal 

cases. 

This was Mrs. Motley's ninth appearance before the U.S. 

Supreme Court. Assisting her were Legal Defense Fund Director 

Counsel Jack Greenberg; James M. Nabrit III, Michael Meltsner and 

Frank Heffron of the Fund's New York City headquarters. 

Cooperating Attorneys Orzell Billingsley, Jr. and Peter Hall 

of Birmingham assisted on the case as did volunteer attorney, 

Henry M, di Suvero. 

=30= 

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

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Supreme Court Hears Argument on Jury Exclusion of Negroes

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