Civil Rights Litigation Reported at Record High - Annual Report

    10 Columbus Cirele 

i New York, N.¥. 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
President FOR RELEASE 

; Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers Friday, 
; Director Counsal May 14, 1965 

Jack Greenberg 

CIVIL RIGHTS LITIGATION 
REPORTED AT RECORD HIGH 

LEGAL DEFENSE FUND CASE LOAD UP ONE THIRD 

NBW YORK, N.Y.---The case load of the NAACP Legal Defense and 

Educational Fund, Inc.---legal arm of the civil rights movement--- 

increased by one third during 1964, marking a year of meteoric 

expansion. 

“Some 223 separate groups of legal actions (168 in 1963) were 

fought by Fund attorneys according to the organization's 1964 

annual report, released here today. 

Marked increase was also noted in the 13,419 peaceful 

demonstrators represented during 1964---28 per cent more than the 

10,487 defended in 1963. 

In a statement summing up the year of unprecedented growth, 

Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg predicts continued expansion of 

the Legal Defense Fund's efforts to extend established rights "to 

all who are denied their benefits." 

Pledging his organization to an all-out fight against 

tokenism in civil rights, Mr. Greenberg warns that "If tokenism 

becomes a way of life, it will become ingrained in law and in fact 

a part of our Constitution. This must never come to be, he 

asserts, 

The report discloses that in the 25th year since it was 

founded as a separate, independent, tax-exempt organization, the 

Legal Defense Fund served as the legal arm of virtually the entire 

civil rights movement by: 

* Fighting 223 groups of cases in 15 states; among them 

were 29 that reached the U.S. Supreme Court; 

(more) 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 <6 



Civil Rights Litigation ~2- May 14, 1965 .<» 

Reported At Record-High ’ 

* Enlarging its staff to 51, including 17 New York 

based attorneys working with 120 cooperating counsdiy 

throughout the South; : 

* Representing 13,419 defendants in demonstration cases, 

and hundreds of others seeking equality in every 

sphere of life; § 

* Raising and spending over $1,400,000 in its battle 

$ 

against bigotry. 5 

The broad scope of the Legal Defense Fund's activity is de- 

tailed in the 24-page document. Featured are sections dealing 

with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, school integration, health 

facilities, and justice in Mississippi. KS 

The report makes clear the vast array of new legal 

responsibilities and challenges presented by the Civil Rights “Act, 

while recounting the Supreme Court rulings which upheld the i 

public accommodations provision and brought freedom for over : 

3,000 sit-in demonstrators, E 

Also outlined are the advances made in 1964 toward nacte 

the drastic shortage of civil rights attorneys in the South. For 

the first time in history, southern white attorneys joined fouges 

with the Legal Defense Fund. 

One of the 12 Floridians who did so currently faces possible 

disbarment as a consequence, 

The first two graduates of the unique legal intern program 

departed for North Carolina and Mississippi, and new interns 

joined the staff. Four Civil Rights Law Institutes, designed to 

keep specialists abreast of new developments and staffed by 

outstanding law professors, were held in 1964. Training seminars, 

manuals of civil rights law, and office space were provided for 

volunteer attorneys and law students who were sent South for the 
' 

summer. 

Just the same, “enlarging the ranks of specialists in civil 

rights law continues as a pressing responsibility far removed 

from the spotlight of crisis si tuationsadinthe xrepart states. 

(more) 



Civil Rights Litigation -3- seyMay 14, 1965 
Reported*AtoRecord High 2 

In the concluding section, "New Frontiers of the Law," the 

Legal Defense Fund stressed that in addition to enforcing existing | 

statutes and precedents, "there is yet a need to break new ground 

in civil rights law." 

Consequently, present activities include: 

* "Affirmative action to insure that Negroes are included 

on Southern jury rolls." 

* Cases seeking to end capital punishment for rape; this 

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penalty is meted out almost exclusively to Negroes. 

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* Preparations to handle complaints of employment 

discrimination, under Title VII of the Civil Rights # 

Act, which takes effect July l. 

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* Attacks on residential segregation in anti-trust suits 

against real estate boards (the first such suit was J 

filed April 7) 

* "Suits seeking school desegregation on a statewide 

' basis." } 

The report notes the staggering expense of civil rights fy 

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litigation: defense of sit-in demonstrators from 1960 to 1964, 

for example, cost approximately $520,000. 

Yet, support from voluntary contributions and foundations 

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enabled the Legal Defense Fund to raise $1,538,098.84 in 1964, 

six dimes the size of the budget ten years ago. With a 

$25,946.88 balance going into the current year, it is one of the 

few divil rights organizations operating in the black. 

‘The projected budget of $1,700,000 this year is expected to 

grow to over $2 million by 1967, as the progress of the Legal 
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Defense Fund's first 25 years is enlarged, 

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