(Originally published by the Daily News in November 14, 1956. This story was written by Paul Healy.)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (NEWS Bureau). – The Supreme Court today upheld a lower court ruling that an Alabama law requiring racial segregation on city buses is unconstitutional. The decision was unanimous.
The case grew out of the boycott by [African-Americans] of segregated buses in Montgomery. The boycott is now in its 11th month. The decision applied to all intrastate buses.
The high court today also:
1. Turned down an appeal by Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard, of Cleveland, now serving a 10-year-to-life sentence for the 1954 bludgeon murder of his wife, Marilyn. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the conviction earlier this year.
Sheppard had contended he did not receive a fair trial because of the “Roman holiday” atmosphere compounded of the public’s interest in “murder and mystery, society, sex and suspense.”
Looks Into J.S. Service Case
2. Agreed to look into the 1951 loyalty firing of career diplomat John Stewart Service. Service is seeking reinstatement and back pay on grounds that he was ousted illegally by Secretary of State Dean Acheson after the State Department’s loyalty board had cleared him of Communist charges.
The Civil Service Commission’s loyalty review board had found a “reasonable doubt” about Service’s loyalty.
In the segregation case, the Supreme Court merely “affirmed” a June 5 decision by a special three-judge panel in Montgomery that bus segregation requirements of both city and state are unconstitutional. Then the Supreme Court citied its historic school segregation decision on May 17, 1954, and two other cases.
“Separate But Equal”
The special court’s decision had been appealed by the Montgomery city commissioners, the city’s chief of police and the State Public Service Commission. They argued before the high court that the “separate but equal” doctrine is still good in transportation, despite the court’s 1954 ruling to end segregation in education.
Eight other states still have bus segregation laws: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
