In this case, a Black man charged with a crime in Montgomery County, Alabama, challenged the County's policy of systematically excluding Black people from jury service. On November 5, 1966, the plaintiff filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, ...
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In this case, a Black man charged with a crime in Montgomery County, Alabama, challenged the County's policy of systematically excluding Black people from jury service. On November 5, 1966, the plaintiff filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, where it was assigned to then-District Judge Frank M. Johnson. Bringing suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Declaratory Judgement Act (28 U.S.C. § 2201), the plaintiff claimed that the exclusion of Black people from criminal juries violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
Judge Johnson denied the plaintiff's request for a temporary restraining order on November 10, noting that the plaintiff had yet to be indicted, so no constitutional violation had yet occurred. 261 F. Supp. 591. However, he also set a preliminary injunction hearing for January of 1967. The status of the case after that date is unclear, but it is presumably now closed.
Jonah Hudson-Erdman - 11/18/2021
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