''Dixon v. Alabama'', 294

F.2d The ''Federal Reporter'' () is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing and a part of the National Reporter System. It begins with cases decided in 1880; pre-1880 cases were later retroactively compiled by We ...

150 (5th Cir. 1961) was a landmark 1961

U.S. federal court The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...

decision that spelled the end of the doctrine that colleges and universities could act ''

in loco parentis The term ''in loco parentis'', Contemporary Latin, Latin for "in the place of a parent" refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent. Originally derived from ...

'' to discipline or expel their students. It has been called "the leading case on due process for students in public higher education". The case arose when

Alabama State College Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lin ...

, a then-segregated black college, expelled six students, including the named appellant, St. John Dixon, for unspecified reasons, but presumably because of their participation in demonstrations during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. The college, acting ''in loco parentis'', expelled them without a hearing. The case was appealed to the

Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts in the following United Stat ...

, which held that a public college could not expel students without at least minimal due process. The case was heard by a panel of

John Minor Wisdom John Minor Wisdom (May 17, 1905 – May 15, 1999), one of the "Fifth Circuit Four", and a United States Republican Party, Republican from Louisiana, was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appe ...

Richard Rives Richard Taylor Rives (January 15, 1895 – October 27, 1982) was an American lawyer and judge. A native of Alabama, he was the sole Democrat among the "Fifth Circuit Four," four United States Circuit Judges of the United States Court of Appeals f ...

, and

Benjamin Franklin Cameron Benjamin Franklin Cameron (December 14, 1890 – April 3, 1964) was an American jurist from the state of Mississippi. He served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1955 to 1964. The Fif ...

. Cameron dissented from the opinion of the court.

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

, Fred Gray,

Derrick Bell Derrick Albert Bell Jr. (November 6, 1930 – October 5, 2011) was an American lawyer, professor, and civil rights activist. Bell worked for first the U.S. Justice Department, then the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he supervised over 300 schoo ...

and

Jack Greenberg Jack Greenberg (December 22, 1924 – October 12, 2016) was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, succeeding Thurgood Marshall. He was involved in numerous crucial ...

were among the counsel for the appellants.

References

Bibliography

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External links

*JSTOR Constitutional Archive
''Dixon v. Alabama St. Board of Education''
United States substantive due process case law United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit cases 1961 in United States case law Legal history of Alabama 1961 in Alabama Alabama State University Civil rights movement case law {{civil-rights-movement-stub

See also

References

Bibliography

External links