Supreme Court to Hear Huge Columbia, S.C. Protest Appeal Dec. 13

    -PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
I1OCOLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEWYORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President Director-Counsel Associate Counsel 

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SUPREME COURT TO HEAR HUGE 
COLUMBIA, S. C. PROTEST APPEAL DEC. 13 

December 4, 1962 

NEW YORK -- On December 13, 1962, the U. S. Supreme Court will hear 

oral argument on a protest demonstration case in which 187 Negro 

students were arrested in Columbia, S.C. 

The case grew out of a 1961 march on the State House grounds by 

Columbia Negro high school and college students. 

Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund 

will argue the appeal for the Negro defendants. The Columbia case 

is similar to 7 other protest appeals which were argued before the 

Supreme Court last month. 

The arrests occurred when the group of Negro students from 

Columbia high schoolsand Benedict College met at Zion Baptist Church 

and organized a march to the center of town to the State House 

grounds. 

When the group reached the State Capitol, they paraded on the 

grounds in front of the Capitol with antisegregation placards while 

singing songs, including the "Star Spangled Banner." After a half 

hour of demonstrating, a crowd grew across the street from the 

grounds, traffic slowed, and city police appeared. The students were 

then told to disperse by City Manager McNayr. When they refused 

they were lined up and marched to the city and county jails. 

The students were arrested for "breach of the peace." The war- 

rants charged that the demonstration impeded the lawful flow of 

traffic and may have incited members of the watching crowd to 

violence. 

The convictions were upheld by the Supreme Court of South 

Carolina on December 5, 1961. The U. S. Supreme Court decided it 

would hear the case on May 14 of this year. 

The brief submitted to the Court by Legal Defense Fund attorneys 

argues that the convictions are unconstitutional because there is "ne 



ae 

evidence of violence, threatened violence, or disorder." It cites 

testimony of the Columbia chief of police and city manager who both 

stated that they saw potential "troublemakers" in the crowd watching 

the demonstration and this is why they asked the demonstrators to 

leave. Legal Defense Fund attorneys contend that the students’ 

rights to protest segregation were abridged since there was no actual 

evidence of violence or disorder. 

The Fund brief also argues that the rights of students to free 

speech and assembly under the due process clause of the Fourteenth 

Amendment were violated when the defendants were arrested. 

The State of South Carolina argues that the arrests were moti- 

vated, according to its Supreme Court, "solely by a proper concern 

for the preservation of order and prevention of further interference 

with traffic upon the public streets and sidewalks." 

NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys representing the students, 

in addition to Mr. Greenberg, are Matthew J, Perry and Lincoln 

Jenkins, Jr. of Columbia, S. C., Donald James Sampson of Greenville, 

S. C., and Constance Baker Motley, James M, Nabrit, III and Michael 

Meltsner, all of New York City.