National Association For the Advancement of Colored People, Inc v. Bennett
Decision Date | 22 June 1959 |
Docket Number | No. 757,757 |
Parties | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, INC., v. Bruce BENNETT, Attorney General of the State of Arkansas |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs.
Robert O. Carter and Herbert O. Reid, for appellant.
When the validity of a state statute, challenged under the United States Constitution, is properly for adjudication before a United States District Court, reference to the state courts for construction of the statute should not automatically be made. The judgment is vacated and the case is remanded to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas for consideration in light of Harrison v. NAACP, 360 U.S. 167, 79 S.Ct. 1025.
Judgment vacated and case remanded.
While I agree that the case should be remanded to the District Court, I think that court should be directed to pass on the constitutional issues presented without prior reference to the state courts. My reasons are stated in my dissent in Harrison v. NAACP, 360 U.S. 179, 79 S.Ct. 1032.
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Jehovah's Witnesses in State of Wash. v. King County Hosp.
...L.Ed.2d 1152 (1959), where there was a finding that the state law was uncertain and abstention was ordered. In NAACP v. Bennett, 360 U.S. 471, 79 S.Ct. 1192, 3 L.Ed.2d 1375 (1959) the supreme court reversed the district court for failing to consider whether the state law was uncertain. Agai......
-
Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corporation
...that, even involved, 'reference to state courts for construction of statute should not automatically be made.' N.A.A.C.P. v. Bennett, 360 U.S. 471, 79 S.Ct. 1192, 3 L.Ed.2d 1375. Unlike many cases in which abstention has been held appropriate, there was here no danger that a federal decisio......
-
United States v. Livingston
...to the state courts of all federal constitutional questions arising in the application of state statutes. N. A. A. C. P. v. Bennett, 360 U.S. 471, 79 S.Ct. 1192, 3 L.Ed.2d 1375. Though never interpreted by a state court, if a state statute is not fairly subject to an interpretation which wi......
-
Zwickler v. Koota
...to the state courts of all federal constitutional questions arising in the application of state statutes. N.A.A.C.P. v. Bennett, 360 U.S. 471, 79 S.Ct. 1192, 3 L.Ed.2d 1375. Though never interpreted by a state court, if a state statute is not fairly subject to an interpretation which will a......