Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147
The Supreme Court’s decision of 1969 reversing Fred Shuttlesworth’s conviction for leading the Good Friday march of 1963 in Birmingham without a parade permit. It holds the city’s permit ordinance unconstitutional as it was written and applied.
The opinion, by Justice Stewart, begins with the facts: on the afternoon of Good Friday, 12 April 1963, three ministers, one of them Fred L. Shuttlesworth, led 52 people out of a Birmingham church and walked four blocks in an orderly way before the police stopped and arrested them under the city’s parade ordinance (paragraphs 2–3). Shuttlesworth was sentenced to 90 days at hard labour, with a further 48 days in default of a fine and costs (paragraph 7). The Court reversed the conviction on 10 March 1969.
See the Churches and the Civil Rights Movement and Walker v. City of Birmingham, 388 U.S. 307, the companion case about the injunction.
Cited in
- 16 April 1963, firm date