''Scull v. Virginia ex rel. Committee on Law Reform and Racial Activities'', 359 U.S. 344 (1959), is a 9–0 ruling by the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
..
Background
The state of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
enacted a package of statutes in September 1956 designed to ensure
racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
in that state's public schools despite the ruling of the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in ''
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954). The legislative program ("the Stanley Plan") was named for
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Thomas B. Stanley
Thomas Bahnson Stanley (July 16, 1890 – July 10, 1970) was an American politician, furniture manufacturer and Holstein cattle breeder. A Democrat and member of the Byrd Organization, Stanley served in a number of different political offices ...
, who proposed the program and successfully pushed for its enactment. The Stanley Plan was a critical element in the policy of "
massive resistance
Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia and his brother-in-law James M. Thomson, who represented Alexandria in the Virginia General Assembly, to get the state's white politicians to pass laws and p ...
" to the ''Brown'' ruling advocated by
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Harry F. Byrd, Sr.
Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization. ...
Duke, p. 18. The Stanley Plan was introduced and passed during a special session of the
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...
. During the special session, Delegate James McIlhany Thomson, an ardent segregationist, introduced a bill (unrelated to the Stanley Plan) to establish a seven-member Assembly committee to investigate any group seeking to influence public opinion in the state, teacher quality, uniformity of courses and curriculum in the public schools, and the effects of integration on public education.Baker, Robert E. and Feeley, Connie. "New Bill Would Give Stanley Pupil Assignment." ''Washington Post.'' September 7, 1956."Bills Aimed at NAACP Stir Va. Assembly Fight." ''Washington Post.'' September 11, 1956. The bill passed on the last day of the special session. The legislation established a 10-member Assembly committee composed of six delegates and four senators."Key Parts of Virginia School Bills." ''Washington Post.'' September 23, 1956. The committee was charged with investigating the effect of integration on public schools, racial matters in the state in general, and the effectiveness of racial legislation. The committee was to issue a report and make recommendations (if any) to the Assembly by November 1, 1957.
The legislative investigating committee was officially titled the Virginia Committee on Law Reform and Racial Activities, but was publicly known as the "Thomson Committee" after its chair, Delegate Thomson. In 1954, David Scull (a printer in
Annandale, Virginia
Annandale () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia.Anzalone, p. 652. He refused, and was convicted of
contempt of court
Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...
.
Scull appealed his conviction to the
Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrativ ...
. Without comment, the state supreme court declined to hear his appeal in 1958.
Scull appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted
certiorari
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
and agreed to hear the case.
Ruling
Associate Justice
Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some state ...
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...
wrote the decision for the unanimous Court.
Scull made four claims:
# That the committee was part of a program of state-sponsored harassment of those attempting to win racial integration of Virginia's public schools;
# That the questions put to him violated his
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and right to petition;
# That the information sought was not relevant to the legislative function of the Virginia General Assembly; and
# That despite repeated requests, the committee failed to show that its interrogatories were relevant to its legal charge.
Black declined to address the first three of Scull's claims, deciding instead to rule on the narrow grounds of the fourth claim. The record of the committee's proceedings showed that Scull asked the committee what the purpose of its inquiry was, so that he could determine which questions put to him were pertinent. Chairman Thomson made an ambiguous reply, then told Scull that "several" of the lines of inquiry did not apply to Scull. When Scull claimed that he still did not know what properly constituted the committee's subjects of inquiry, the committee proceeded to ask 31 questions of Scull. Black expressed scepticism regarding the committee's actions: "It is difficult to see how some of these questions have any relationship to the subjects the Committee was authorized to investigate, or how Scull could possibly discover any such relationship from the Chairman's statement."
Thomson's testimony in the contempt proceeding before the Circuit Court further muddied things. During his testimony, Thomson "successively ruled out as inapplicable to Scull each of the subjects which the Legislature had authorized the Committee to investigate." Nor did the state circuit court's instructions to Scull clarify matters. Black noted that the circuit court did not analyze any of the 31 questions put to Scull, did not explain to Scull what the subject of the committee's inquiry was, and did not explain how these questions related to that inquiry.''Scull'', 359 U.S. at 352.
It was clear, Black held, that the questions put to Scull clearly involved the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association. The Court's long-established test in such cases was to determine if there was a compelling governmental interest which could justify infringement on these fundamental rights.''Scull'', 359 U.S. at 352-353. But the majority did not need to reach even this constitutional question, Black concluded, because Thomson's, the committee's, and the circuit court's statements about the subject of inquiry were so unclear that Scull was prevented from knowing what he was supposed to answer.''Scull'', 359 U.S. at 353. "To sustain his conviction for contempt under these circumstances would be to send him to jail for a crime he could not with reasonable certainty know he was committing."
The Supreme Court had repeatedly held ('' Lanzetta v. New Jersey'', 306 U.S. 451
939
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''
Watkins v. United States
''Watkins v. United States'', 354 U.S. 178 (1957), is a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the power of the United States Congress is not unlimited in conducting investigations and that nothing in the United States C ...
'', 354 U.S. 178
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that "fundamental fairness" required that a reasonable certainty exist as to what crime an individual might be committing. Relying on '' Winters v. New York'', 333 U.S. 507 (1948), Black concluded that such certainty is "essential" when individuals are asked to give up their freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association out of a fear of violating a vague law. But the "far too wavering, confused and cloudy" responses given to Scull did not meet these standards.
The Court reversed and remanded the case to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
References
Bibliography
*Anzalone, Christopher A. ''Supreme Court Cases on Political Representation, 1787-2001.'' Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2002.
*Duke, Daniel Linden. ''Education Empire: The Evolution of an Excellent Suburban School System.'' Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2005.
*Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. ''Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.'' Richmond, Va.: Virginia Dept. of Purchase and Supply, 1959.