Civil Rights Groups Avoid Taking Cases To Supreme Court

Jet, March 22, 1999

The U.S. Supreme Court was once viewed by civil rights activists as a place to go for a sensitive and sympathetic hearing in the fight for equality and protection for Blacks and other minorities.

Today, however, some civil rights groups are working to keep affirmative action cases away from the Supreme Court in fear of an adverse ruling from the conservative court, USA Today reported.

At the urging of civil rights groups, the Boston School Board recently opted not to appeal a lower court ruling against an admission policy that boosted minority enrollment at the Boston Latin School.

"There is too much at stake to risk pulling down affirmative action nationwide at the hands of a closely divided court," Ted Shaw of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told USA Today.

Leonard C. Alkins, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, told the Baltimore Sun: "We lobbied very vigorously--along with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and other groups--to persuade the school committee to reconsider their vote" to seek Supreme Court review. "Hopefully, we have stemmed the tide."

He also said the Supreme Court "had been looking for a vehicle" to "write a policy abolishing affirmative action and diversity in all schools receiving federal funds."

Civil rights observers recall how things have changed since then-attorney Thurgood Marshall argued and won the 1954 landmark Brown vs. Board of Education in which the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

As one of the nation's most sought-after attorneys, Marshall argued 32 cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the NAACP, and won all but three of the cases.

In 1967, Marshall became the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court when he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Civil rights observers also recall that another example of the Supreme Court's sensitivity occurred in 1971, when it reversed famed boxer Muhammad Ali's draft conviction and five-year prison sentence.

In 1964, Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay and said he had embraced the Muslim faith. In 1966, he refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army because of his religion, which objected to the Vietnam War.

In 1967, he was sentenced to five years in prison, but remained free on bail. In the meantime, however, his heavyweight title was taken away, and he was not permitted to fight again until 1970.

Observing the conservative stance the top court has taken in recent years, Georgetown University law professor Mark Tushnet told USA Today, "Clearly, this is not a court that is enthusiastic about affirmative action."