Cox v. State of Louisiana

• Decision Date: 18 January 1965
• Docket Number: No. 24,24
• Citation: 85 S.Ct. 453,13 L.Ed.2d 471,379 U.S. 536
• Parties: B. Elton COX, Appellant, v. STATE OF LOUISIANA
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

379 U.S. 536

85 S.Ct. 453

13 L.Ed.2d 471

B. Elton COX, Appellant,

v STATE OF LOUISIANA.

No. 24.

Argued Oct. 21, 1964.

Decided Jan. 18, 1965.

[Syllabus from pages 536-537 intentionally omitted]

Carl Rachlin, New York City, for appellant.

Ralph L. Roy, Baton Rouge, La., for appellee.

Mr. Justice GOLDBERGdelivered the opinion of the Court.

Appellant, the Reverend Mr. B. Elton Cox, the leader of a civil rights demonstration, was arrested and charged with four offenses under Louisiana law—criminal conspiracy, disturbing the peace, obstructing public passages and picketing before a courthouse.In a consolidated trial before a judge without a jury, and on the same set of facts, he was acquitted of criminal conspiracy but convicted of the other three offenses.He was sentenced to serve four months in jail and pay a $200 fine for disturbing the peace, to serve five months in jail and pay a $500 fine for obstructing public passages, and to serve one year in jail and pay a $5,000 fine for picketing before a courthouse.The sentences were cumulative.

In accordance with Louisiana procedure the Louisiana Supreme Court reviewed the "disturbing the peace" and "obstructing public passages" convictions on certiorari and the "courthouse picketing" conviction on appeal.The Louisiana court, in two judgments, affirmed all three convictions.244 La. 1087, 156 So.2d 448; 245 La. 303, 158 So.2d 172.Appellant filed two separate appeals to this Court from these judgments contending that the three statutes under which he was convicted were unconstitutional on their face and as applied.We noted probable jurisdiction of both appeals, 377 U.S. 921, 84 S.Ct. 1219, 1222, 12 L.Ed.2d 214.This case, No. 24, involves the convictions for disturbing the peace and obstructing public passages, and No. 49, 85 S.Ct. 476 concerns the conviction for picketing before a courthouse.

I.

The Facts.

On December 14, 1961, 23 students from Southern University, a Negro college, were arrested in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for picketing stores that maintained segregated lunch counters.This picketing, urging a boycott of those stores, was part of a general protest movement against racial segregation, directed by the local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights organization.The appellant, an ordained Congregational minister, the Reverend Mr. B. Elton Cox, a Field Secretary of CORE, was an advisor to this movement.On the evening of December 14, appellant and Ronnie Moore, student president of the local CORE chapter, spoke at a mass meeting at the college.The students resolved to demonstrate the next day in front of the courthouse in protest of segregation and the arrest and imprisonment of the picketers who were being held in the parish jail located on the upper floor of the courthouse building.

The next morning about 2,000 students left the campus, which was located approximately five miles from downtown Baton Rouge.Most of them had to walk into the city since the drivers of their busses were arrested.Moore was also arrested at the entrance to the campus while parked in a car equipped with a loudspeaker, and charged with violation of an antinoise statute.Because Moore was immediately taken off to jail and the vice president of the CORE chapter was already in jail for picketing, Cox felt it his duty to take over the demonstration and see that it was carried out as planned.He quickly drove to the city "to pick up this leadership and keep things orderly."

When Cox arrived, 1,500 of the 2,000 students were assembling at the site of the old State Capitol building, two and one-half blocks from the courthouse.Cox walked up and down cautioning the students to keep to one side of the sidewalk while getting ready for their march to the courthouse.The students circled the block in a file two or three abreast occupying about half of the sidewalk.The police had learned of the proposed demonstration the night before from news media and other sources.Captain Font of the City Police Department and Chief Kling of the Sheriff's office, two high-ranking subordinate officials, approached the group and spoke to Cox at the northeast corner of the capitol grounds.Cox identified himself as the group's leader, and, according to Font and Kling, he explained that the students were demonstrating to protest "the illegal arrest of some of their people who were being held in jail."The version of Cox and his witnesses throughout was that they came not "to protest just the arrest but * * * [also] to protest the evil of discrimination."Kling asked Cox to disband the group and "take them back from whence they came."Cox did not acquiesce in this request but told the officers that they would march by the courthouse, say prayers, sing hymns, and conduct a peaceful program of protest.The officer repeated his request to disband, and Cox again refused.Kling and Font then returned to their car in order to report by radio to the Sheriff and Chief of Police who were in the immediate vicinity; while this was going on, the students, led by Cox, began their walk toward the courthouse.

They walked in an orderly and peaceful file, two or three abreast, one block east, stopping on the way for a red traffic light.In the center of this block they were joined by another group of students.The augmented group now totaling about 2,000 ¹ turned the corner and proceeded south, coming to a halt in the next block opposite the courthouse.

As Cox, still at the head of the group, approached the vicinity of the courthouse, he was stopped by Captain Font and Inspector Trigg and brought to Police Chief Wingate White, who was standing in the middle of St. Louis Street.The Chief then inquired as to the purpose of the demonstration.Cox, reading from a prepared paper, outlined his program to White, stating that it would include a singing of the Star Spangled Banner and a "freedom song," recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, and a short speech.White testified that he told Cox that "he must confine" the demonstration "to the west side of the street."White added, "This, of course, was not—I didn't mean it in the import that I was giving him any permission to do it, but I was presented with a situation that was accomplished, and I had to make a decision."Cox testified that the officials agreed to permit the meeting.James Erwin, news director of radio station WIBR, a witness for the State, was present and overheard the conversation.He testified that "My understanding was that they would be allowed to demonstrate if they stayed on the west side of the street and stayed within the recognized time,"² and that this was "agreed to" by White.³

The students were then directed by Cox to the west sidewalk, across the street from the courthouse, 101 feet from its steps.They were lined up on this sidewalk about five deep and spread almost the entire length of the block.The group did not obstruct the street.It was close to noon and, being lunch time, a small crowd of 100 to 300 curious white people, mostly courthouse personnel, gathered on the east sidewalk and courthouse steps, about 100 feet from the demonstrators.Seventy-five to eighty policemen, including city and state patrolmen and members of the Sheriff's staff, as well as members of the fire department and a fire truck were stationed in the street between the two groups.Rain fell throughout the demonstration.

Several of the students took from beneath their coats picket signs similar to those which had been used the day before.These signs bore legends such as "Don't buy discrimination for Christmas,""Sacrifice for Christ, don't buy," and named stores which were proclaimed "unfair."They then sang "God Bless America," pledged allegiance to the flag, prayed briefly, and sang one or two hymns, including "We Shall Overcome."The 23 students, who were locked in jail cells in the courthouse building out of the sight of the demonstrators, responded by themselves singing; this in turn was greeted with cheers and applause by the demonstrators.Appellant gave a speech, described by a State's witness as follows:

"He said that in effect that it was a protest against the illegal arrest of some of their members and that other people were allowed to picket * * * and he said that they were not going to commit any violence,⁴ that if anyone spit on them, they would not spit back on the person that did it."⁵

Cox then said:

"All right.It's lunch time.Let's go eat.There are twelve stores we are protesting.A number of these stores have twenty counters; they accept your money from nineteen.They won't accept it from the twentieth counter.This is an act of racial discrimination.These stores are open to the public.You are members of the public.We pay taxes to the Federal Government and you who live here pay taxes to the State."⁶

In apparent reaction to these last remarks, there was what state witnesses described as "muttering" and "grumbling" by the white onlookers.⁷

The Sheriff, deeming, as he testified, Cox's appeal to the students to sit in at the lunch counters to be "inflammatory," then took a power microphone and said, "Now, you have been allowed to demonstrate.Up until now your demonstration has been more or less peaceful, but what you are doing now is a direct violation of the law, a disturbance of the peace, and it has got to be broken up immediately."The testimony as to what then happened is disputed.Some of the State's witnesses testified that Cox said, "don't move"; others stated that he made a "gesture of defiance."It is clear from the record, however, that Cox and the demonstrators did not then and there break up the demonstration.Two of the Sheriff's deputies immediately started across the street and told the group, "You have heard what the Sheriff said, now, do what he said."A state witness testified that they put their hands on the shoulders of some of the students "as...