Untold Stories: The Cases That Shaped the Civil Rights Movement Brooke Girley

Thank you so much for listening, subscribing, and sharing the Untold Stories: Cases that Shaped the Civil Rights Movement. I've enjoyed sharing these important cases with you all. The series is going on a break and will return in 2021 with more great content. In the meantime, please share previous episodes and be on the lookout for new content! Enjoy this replay of one of my favorite cases: U.S. v. Shipp

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This week I look at the case of McCleskey v. Kemp (1987), a decision that's been called the Dred Scott case of our time. This case looks at racial disparities in the handing out of the death penalty. After defendant Warren McCleskey was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of white officer Frank Shlatt, his attorneys relied on a comprehensive study by Professor David Baldus, which analyzed potential racial disparities with respect to the death penalty in the state of Georgia. What the study found is that when a victim is white, a defendant is 4.3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than if the victim was of another race. McCleskey argued that such disparities ran afoul of the 8th Amendment and 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause. The court's ruling was a major setback for civil rights. Listen to find out why.

Resources:
Oral Argument – https://www.oyez.org/cases/1986/84-6811
Baldus Report: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b268/cf24b5740f56752200f429a1107f0c9b4390.pdf
New York Times Article: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/23/us/court-5-4-rejects-racial-challenge-to-death-penalty.html
McCleskey Family Interview: https://www.lifeofthelaw.org/2017/05/unequal-protection-part-1/


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This week I look at Batson v. Kentucky (1986), which deals with preventing black people from serving on the jury. In this case, James K Batson was charged with two counts of burglary and receipt of stolen property. During his trial, the prosecutor, a white man, struck all the black people from the potential jury pool. Batson was convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He appealed his case to the US Supreme Court arguing that the use of what's called a "peremptory challenge" to remove all the black people from the potential jury pool violated his 6th Amendment's right to a fair trial and the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. What emerged from this case is what's now known as the Batson Rule. Listen to find out what that is exactly and to discover the remarkable way this story ended.

Resources:
Oral Argument - https://www.oyez.org/cases/1985/84-6263
"War on Jails" by James Batson - https://www.amazon.com/War-Jails-Enlighten-James-Batson-ebook/dp/B07965WM98


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This week's episode looks at Terry v. Ohio (1968), which deals with a current hot issue: "stop and frisk." In this case, John Terry, Richard Chilton, and Carl Katz were stopped and frisked by Det. Martin McFadden after he observed them behaving in a suspicious manner. During the frisk, McFadden discovered concealed weapons on both Terry and Chilton. Both men were charged with having a concealed and their attorney, former Congressman Louis Stokes, filed a motion to suppress the weapon. He argued that McFadden subjected Terry and Chilton to an unlawful search. The case made its way to the high court and the result continues to impact policing to the present day.

Resources:
Oral Argument: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1967/67

Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode! You can also follow me at my blog palookesworld.com

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This week's episode looks at the Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.(1964). Unlike previous cases discussed in this series, this one involves a white plaintiff, Moreton Rolleston Jr., who challenged the then newly enacted Civil Rights Act of 1964. Rolleston, a staunch segregationist and lawyer, who owned the Heart of Atlanta Motel and he refused to serve black people. After the Civil Rights Act was passed, he filed an injunction claiming the law was unconstitutional. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and the court unanimously ruled against him. He continued his litigious ways, eventually suing media mogul Tyler Perry several times. Watch the video above to discover why and to learn more about the case.

Resources:
Listen to Oral Arguments Here:https://www.oyez.org/cases/1964/515

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss a post! You can also follow me at my blog palookesworld.com


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This episode looks at Smith v. Allwright (1944) a case that challenged the use of white primaries to exclude black people from the voting process. This case was the fourth in a series of cases challenging such primaries in the state of Texas. The Supreme Court had to decide whether or not the Democratic Party's decision to exclude all non-white people from voting in their primaries violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Listen to find out what happened.

Books:
1. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
2. On Account of Race by Lawrence Goldstone

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