White v. Crook

Citation251 F. Supp. 401
Decision Date07 February 1966
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 2263-N
PartiesGardenia WHITE et al., Plaintiffs, United States of America, by Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, Attorney General of the United States, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. Bruce CROOK et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

Orzell Billingsley, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., Charles Morgan, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., Melvin L. Wulf, Dorothy Kenyon and Pauli Murray, New York City, for plaintiffs.

John Doar, Asst. Atty. Gen., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., and Ben Hardeman, U. S. Atty., Montgomery, Ala., for plaintiff-intervenor.

Richmond M. Flowers, Atty. Gen., Robert P. Bradley and Leslie Hall, Asst. Attys. Gen., State of Alabama, Montgomery, Ala., for members of the Lowndes County Jury Commission and Mrs. Kelly Coleman, defendants.

Harry Cole, of Ball & Ball, Montgomery, Ala., for all other defendants.

Before RIVES, Circuit Judge, and ALLGOOD and JOHNSON, District Judges.

PER CURIAM.

This action was instituted as a class action by male and female residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, against the individual members of the jury commission of Lowndes County, Alabama. Subsequently, the plaintiffs amended by adding as defendants other officials of Lowndes County and the State of Alabama, who, according to the amended complaint, performed certain functions in connection with the jury selection and jury use in Lowndes County, Alabama. By the complaint as amended, plaintiffs alleged that the defendants have systematically excluded Negro male citizens and female citizens of both races from jury service in Lowndes County, Alabama. Because of the challenge to the Alabama statute which totally excludes women from jury service, a three-judge district court was designated and convened, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281, 2284, to try this case. Subsequently, the United States moved for leave to intervene pursuant to § 902 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; this motion was based upon a complaint in intervention and a certification by the Attorney General of the United States that, in his judgment, this case was of general importance.

This case was submitted on the issues made up by the pleadings and proof, and, upon consideration of the evidence, consisting of the oral testimony of several witnesses, together with the exhibits thereto, this Court now proceeds to make and enter in this memorandum opinion, as authorized by Rule 52, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The plaintiffs, male and female Negro citizens and residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, seek of the defendants, through this Court, as provided under the Constitution and laws of the United States, injunctive relief to remedy alleged conduct of the defendants (including the denial to the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws on account of race or color) in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The plaintiffs bring this action in their own behalf and on behalf of others similarly situated, pursuant to Rule 23(a) (3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The plaintiff-intervenor is the United States of America; its standing to intervene is established by 42 U.S.C. § 2000h-2 and by Rule 24 (b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The defendants are the members and clerk of the jury commission of Lowndes County, Alabama; the judge for the Second Judicial Circuit of Alabama, which includes Lowndes County; the probate judge and the sheriff of Lowndes County; the solicitor and the clerk of the Second Judicial Circuit of Alabama, which includes Lowndes County; the foreman of the grand jury of Lowndes County; and the solicitor of Lowndes County.

By leave of this Court, upon an appropriate petition, the Alabama Circuit Judges Association filed its brief as amicus curiae. The brief filed on behalf of the Alabama Circuit Judges Association concerns itself with the relief sought by the plaintiffs and the plaintiff-intervenor against the defendant circuit judge; the Association emphasizes in its brief that it does not oppose any relief sought other than that sought against the circuit judge for the Second Judicial Circuit of Alabama, which includes Lowndes County.

The procedure for the selection of jurors in Alabama is controlled by statute.1 Each county in Alabama has a jury commission composed of three members appointed by the Governor.2 These commissioners, in order to be qualified, must be electors of the county, reputed for their fairness, impartiality, integrity and good judgment; the commissioners so appointed serve for the tenure of the Governor who appoints them.3 The jury commissioners are required to place on the jury roll "the names of all male citizens of the county who are generally reputed to be honest and intelligent men and are esteemed in the community for their integrity, good character and sound judgment."4 The clerk of the jury commission is required by law to "obtain the name of every male citizen of the county over twenty-one and under sixty-five years of age and their occupation, place of residence and place of business * * *."5 The jury commission is required to maintain a jury roll containing the name of "every male citizen living in the county who possessed the qualifications herein prescribed and who is not exempted by law from serving on juries."6 As a part of the procedural requirements the names of the persons on the jury roll must also be printed on separate cards, which are placed in a jury box. It is the duty of the commission to see that the name of each person possessing the qualifications to serve as a juror and not exempted by law from jury duty "is placed on the jury roll and in the jury box."7 The Alabama law further requires the jury commission and its clerk to scan the registration lists, the list returned to the tax assessor, any city directories and telephone directories, and any and every other source of information, and to visit every precinct in the county at least once a year.8

When jurors are required for a court session, the presiding judge draws from the jury box the names of the individuals to serve as jurors during the term in question. These jurors may be either petit jurors or grand jurors as the situation requires. The names so drawn are sent to the clerk of the court, and the clerk prepares a venire; the venire containing these names is sent to the sheriff who summons the persons listed to appear and serve.9 The presiding judge has the authority to pass upon claims for exemptions, excuses and qualifications of those individuals who have been summoned to appear and serve as jurors.10 Either party in civil and criminal cases has a right to examine jurors as to their qualifications, interests, or any bias that would affect the trial of the case. In civil actions each party has a certain number of preemptory challenges, and in criminal cases the struck jury method is the exclusive means of selecting juries.

The 1960 census reflects that the total population of Lowndes County was 15,417 and that Negroes comprised 80.7% of the total county population and 72.0% of the adult male population. The white males between the ages of 21 to 65 totaled 738, and the nonwhite males between the ages of 21 to 65 totaled 1,798. The white females between the ages of 21 to 65 totaled 789, and the nonwhite females between the ages of 21 to 65 totaled 2,278.11 The evidence in this case reflects that before each term of court the presiding judge of the Second Judicial Circuit would draw at random from the jury box a sufficient number of cards (usually 110) to provide jurors for the next term of court to be conducted in Lowndes County. When the number of cards in the jury box became depleted to the extent that the judge could not make a complete draw, he notified the clerk of the jury commission, who informed the commissioners that the box required refilling. At times the jury commissioners refilled the box or added names on their own initiative; when they filled the jury box, they would put approximately 250 names in it. The testimony reflected that the judge found it necessary to suggest that the jury box be refilled "probably once a year." The Lowndes County jury commissioners, in selecting persons they considered to be qualified for jury service, used as their primary source the Lowndes County voting lists on which no Negroes were named. The other source (personal knowledge) accounted for the names of seven Negroes listed on the Lowndes County jury roll in the twelve-year period from 1953 until this action was commenced. From 1953 to the time this suit was instituted, Negroes comprised little more than 1% of the persons selected by the commissioners as eligible and qualified for jury service in Lowndes County, Alabama. There was no conflict in the evidence to the effect that there were a substantial number of Negro citizens residing in Lowndes County who were qualified for jury services under Alabama law. As a matter of fact, it was stipulated between counsel that there were qualified Negroes in Lowndes County whose names had not been placed on the jury rolls or in the jury box by the jury commission. The actual procedure followed by the jury commission of Lowndes County, Alabama, in replenishing the jury box was for the commission to borrow the qualified voter list from the county probate judge, to meet, and during the course of the meeting have one of the commissioners read the names of all males on the qualified voter list, most of whom were known to one or more of the commissioners. As the list was read, the persons whose names appeared thereon were either summarily approved or rejected as prospective jurors. Discussion of the qualifications was generally unnecessary. It is especially significant that there were no Negroes registered to vote in Lowndes County prior to March 1, 1965. Literacy was not considered by the commissioners as an absolute...

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77 cases
  • Moody v. Flowers
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 11th Circuit. Middle District of Alabama
    • June 14, 1966
    ...... area of due process of law, to consider, without the Supreme Court's first having done so, whether women should be allowed to serve on juries, White v. Crook, 251 F.Supp. 401 (M.D.Ala.1966), we should not in the present cases cling to the doctrine of an older jurisprudence (Tedesco ), or, in the ......
  • Sail'er Inn, Inc. v. Kirby
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court (California)
    • May 27, 1971
    ...Ale House, Inc. (S.D.N.Y.1969) 308 F.Supp. 1253, 1260; United States ex rel. Robinson v. York, Supra, 281 F.Supp. 8, 16; White v. Crook, Supra, 251 F.Supp. 401, 408.) We need not, however, speculate as to the continuing validity of Gaesaert. The rationale for upholding the statute in that c......
  • Peters v. Kiff 8212 5078
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • June 22, 1972
    ...... to attack the systematic exclusion of Negroes from grand jury and. petit jury service. Pp. 496—505. . Mr. Justice WHITE, joined by Mr. Justice BRENNAN and Mr. Justice POWELL, would implement the longstanding and strong policy. of 18 U.S.C. § 243 against excluding ...320, 90 S.Ct. 518, 24 L.Ed.2d 549 (1970); Turner v. Fouche, 396 U.S. 346, 90. S.Ct. 532, 24 L.Ed.2d 567 (1970); White v. Crook, 251 F.Supp. 401. (DCMD Ala.1966). . Moreover, the Court has also recognized that the exclusion of. a discernible class from jury service ......
  • J.E.B v. Alabama ex rel T.B.
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • April 19, 1994
    ...... said of the Equal Protection Clause: "What is this but declaring that the law in the States shall be the same for the black as for the white." Id., 100 U.S., at 307. And while the Court held that the State could not confine jury service to whites, it further noted that the State could ...Indeed, Alabama did not recognize women as a "cognizable group" for jury-service purposes until after the 1966 decision in White v. Crook, 251 F.Supp. 401 (MD Ala.) (three-judge court). 4. In England there was at least one deviation from the general rule that only males could serve ......
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1 books & journal articles
  • Restricting the freedom of contract: a fundamental prohibition.
    • United States
    • Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal No. 16, January 2013
    • January 1, 2013
    ...rel. Robinson v. York, 281 F. Supp. 8, 16 (D. Conn. 1968) (invalidating sex-based discriminatory sentencing practices); White v. Crook, 251 F. Supp. 401, 408 (M.D. Ala. 1966) (striking down a law preventing females from serving as (168.) See, e.g., Craig, 429 U.S. 190. (169.) Id. (170.) LEO......

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