Lee v. Washington

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: PER CURIAM; Mr. Justice BLACK
• Citation: Lee v. Washington, 390 U.S. 333, 88 S.Ct. 994, 19 L.Ed.2d 1212 (1968)
• Decision Date: 11 March 1968
• Docket Number: No. 75,75
• Parties: Frank LEE, Commissioner of Corrections of Alabama et al., Appellants, v. Caliph WASHINGTON et al

390 U.S. 333

88 S.Ct. 994

19 L.Ed.2d 1212

Frank LEE, Commissioner of Corrections of Alabama et al., Appellants,

v Caliph WASHINGTON et al.

No. 75.

Argued Nov. 7, 1967.

Decided March 11, 1968.

Nicholas S. Hare, for appellants.

Charles Morgan, Jr., for appellees.

PER CURIAM.

This appeal challenges a decree of a three-judge District Court declaring that certain Alabama statutes violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the extent that they require segregation of the races in prisons and jails, and establishing a schedule for desegregation of these institutions. The State's contentions that Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which relates to class actions, was violated in this case and that the challenged statutes are not unconstitutional are without merit. The remaining contention of the State is that the specific orders directing desegregation of prisons and jails make no allowance for the necessities of prison security and discipline, but we do not so read the 'Order, Judgment and Decree' of the District Court, which when read as a whole we find unexceptionable.

The judgment is affirmed.

Mr. Justice BLACK, Mr. Justice HARLAN, and Mr. Justice STEWART, concurring.

In joining the opinion of the Court, we wish to make explicit something that is left to be gathered only by implication...