United States v. Guest
United States v. Guest | |
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Holding | |
If a state participates in a conspiracy to infringe an individuals rights, the state has violated the Fourteenth Amendment. The state's participation in the conspiracy can be as minimal as possible, so long as the involvement exists the state has erred. Furthermore, there is a constitutional right to travel. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Stewart, joined by Black, Clark, White, Fortas; Harlan (in part); Warren, Douglas, Brennan (in part) |
Concurrence | Clark, joined by Black, Fortas |
Concur/dissent | Harlan |
Concur/dissent | Brennan, joined by Warren, Douglas |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. XIV; Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745 (1966), was a
While the majority avoided the question of whether Congress, by appropriate legislation, has the power to punish private conspiracies, Justice Clark, writing in concurrence, asserted that "there now can be no doubt that the specific language of §5 empowers the Congress to enact laws punishing all conspiracies - with or without state action - that interfere with 14th Amendment rights." Justice Hugo Black and Justice Abe Fortas joined Clark's concurrence.
Background
The case arose out of the killing of
The murder happened in
The argument revolved around whether or not Congress intended to apply equal protection rights of the 14th Amendment to citizens deprived of said rights on public facilities, such as roads and bridges or interstate commerce facilities, by private actors with the collusion of public actors. In this case, "public actors" were considered the police who responded to the murderers' false reports that Penn and his cohorts had committed crimes.[citation needed]
Opinion of the Court
The question was whether or not 18 U.S.C. §241 of the Criminal Code could be applied to protect the rights of equal protection and due process secured by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court held that it could.
Concurrence/dissents
Justice
Brennan wrote: "(I) believe that §241 reaches such a private conspiracy, not because the 14th Amendment of its own force prohibits such a conspiracy, but because §241, as an exercise of congressional power under §5 of that Amendment, prohibits all conspiracies to interfere with the exercise of a 'right (secured) by the Constitution.'"
See also
Further reading
- Belknap, Michal R. (1982). "The Legal Legacy of Lemuel Penn". Howard Law Journal. 25: 457–524.
External links
- Text of United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745 (1966) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)