''Palmer v. Thompson'', 403 U.S. 217 (1971), is a United States Supreme Court civil rights case which concerned the interpretation of the
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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Background
The city of
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...
, closed all of its public swimming pools, as opposed to integrating them. Originally there were five public pools, but the city closed four of them, and surrendered its lease to the fifth pool to the lessor, the
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
, which continued to operate the pool privately and on a segregated basis. Hazel Palmer, mother of a freedom rider who was arrested at the bus station, and other black citizens filed suit against the city under the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection and under the Thirteenth Amendment, on the grounds that the city's actions created a "badge or incident" of slavery. The lower courts found no constitutional violation.
On appeal to the Supreme Court, the case was argued by Paul A. Rosen and
William Kunstler
William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Civil ...
for the petitioners. With them on the briefs were Ernest Goodman and
Arthur Kinoy Arthur Kinoy (September 20, 1920 – September 19, 2003), was an American attorney and progressive civil rights leader who helped defend Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. He served as a professor of law at the Rutgers School of Law–Newark from 1964 to ...
. The case was argued for the respondents by William F. Goodman, Jr.
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Holding
The Supreme Court held in its syllabus, "The closing of the pools to all persons did not constitute a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Negroes." The court stated "there was no evidence that the city conspired with the YMCA that its pool be segregated." The court further rejected the equal protection argument that the city's action "was motivated by a desire to avoid integration of the races" because "no case in this Court has held that a legislative act may violate equal protection solely because of the motivations of the men who voted for it."
Legacy
The case was cited by the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
in defending President Donald Trump's travel bans.
References
Further reading
Paul Brest, "Palmer v. Thompson: An Approach to the Problem of Unconstitutional Legislative Motive," ''Supreme Court Review''
External links
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{{US14thAmendment, equalprotection
1971 in case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
United States Fourteenth Amendment case law