" After a series of further delays, the District Court entered its injunction on September 13, 1962, directing the members of the Board of Trustees and the officials of the University to register Meredith.
#Panoply 14740 full
By its terms, this order was to remain in effect "until such time as there has been full and actual compliance in good faith with each and all of said orders by the actual admission of. On the following day the Court of Appeals entered a separate and supplemental "injunctive order" directing the same parties to admit Meredith and to refrain from any act of discrimination relating to his admission or continued attendance. The mandate was stayed by direction of a single judge of the Court of Appeals, whereupon, on July 27, the Court of Appeals set aside the stay, recalled the mandate, amended and reissued it, including its own injunctive order "enjoining and compelling" the Board of Trustees, officials of the University and all persons having knowledge of the decree to admit Meredith to the school. That court denied relief, but the Court of Appeals reversed and directed the District Court to grant the relief prayed for. Meredith sought admission in 1961 and, upon refusal, filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. The proceeding is the aftermath of the efforts of James Meredith, a Negro, to attend the University of Mississippi. We pass only on the jury issue and decide that theĪlleged contemners are not entitled to a jury as a matter of right.
To this Court under the authority of 28 U.S.C. The Court of Appeals, being evenly divided on the question of right to jury trial, has certified the question
#Panoply 14740 trial
Governor Barnett and Lieutenant Governor Johnson moved to dismiss, demanded a trial by jury and filed motions to sever and to strike various charges. Johnson, Jr., Lieutenant Governor, stand charged with willfully disobeying certain restraining orders issued, or directed to be entered, by that court. Barnett, Governor of the State of Mississippi at the time this action arose,Īnd Paul B. This proceeding in criminal contempt was commenced by the United States upon the specific order, sua sponte, of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. JUSTICE CLARK delivered the opinion of the Court.
Wulf for the American Civil Liberties Union. Patterson, Attorney General of Mississippi, for the State of Mississippi, and by Osmond K. Smith, Special Assistant Attorneys General.īriefs of amici curiae in support of the defendants were filed by Joe T. Patterson, Attorney General, Dugas Shands, Assistant Attorney General, and Garner W. Montgomery and Charles Clark, Special Assistant Attorneys General of Mississippi, argued the cause for defendants. With them on the brief were Assistant Attorney General Marshall, Louis F. Solicitor General Cox and Leon Jaworski argued the cause for the United States. On the facts certified, there is no constitutional right to trial by jury. (b) It would be anomalous for a court of appeals to have the power to punish contempt of its own orders without a jury, but to be rendered impotent to do so when the offensive behavior happens to be in contempt of a district court order as well. 4, which provide for jury trial in certain instances of criminal contempt, do not apply since this case involves a contempt committed in disobedience of an order of the Court of Appeals. On the facts certified, there is no statutory right to trial by jury. Held: The alleged contemners are not entitled to a jury trial.ġ.
The alleged contemners demanded trial by jury and the Court of Appeals, being evenly divided, certified to this Court the question whether they were so entitled. The Court of Appeals, sua sponte, appointed the Attorney General or his assistants to prosecute this criminal contempt proceeding under Rule 42 (b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure against the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi for disobeying injunctive orders issued by the Court of Appeals and the District Court. This proceeding arose from the efforts of a Negro to gain admission as a student to the University of Mississippi.
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