50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act
50
years
ATLANTA VOICES
The Civil Rights Movement, Yesterday and Tomorrow
By Meredith Rainey Permar, Emory University School of Law 3L and
Jordan Whitaker, Georgia State University College of Law 2L
A
tlanta lawyers and citizens have played integral roles
in effecting change and promoting civil rights. This
year, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“CRA”), we look to some leading
Atlanta legal voices for input into the future of the Civil
Rights Movement.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States was a landmark case
after the enactment of the CRA. In her book, Elbert Parr
Tuttle: Chief Jurist of the Civil Rights Revolution, author and
Professor of Law Emerita at Georgia State University College
of Law, Professor Emanuel explains the turbulent, uncertain
times -- both legal and societal -- leading up to the “Fifth
Circuit Four’s” decision in the Heart of Atlanta case and the
seminal importance of the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the
decision from Atlanta.
“During the years of 1954 to 1964, Judge Tuttle and others
struggled to put an end to the gross injustice of Jim Crow
segregation and to protect the constitutional rights of black
10 THE ATLANTA LAWYER
October 2014
Americans, they worked only without political support but also
despite the sworn opposition of almost every elected official
in the Fifth Circuit. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 changed all
that—suddenly the Constitution was backed up by Congress.
Using its commerce clause power, Congress outlawed
discrimination on the basis of race in facilities open to the
public. When Heart of Atlanta, Inc., a corporation that operated
the Heart of Atlanta motel in downtown Atlanta, challenged
the constitutionality of the law, in a per curiam opinion Judge
Tuttle and federal district court judges Frank Hooper and
Lewis R. “Pete” Morgan ruled there was sufficient contact
with interstate commerce to support assertion of jurisdiction
by the federal government. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United
States was quickly affirmed by the United States Supreme
Court.” (Excerpt from pages 293-295).
While what started in Atlanta with Heart of Atlanta settling the
constitutionality of Title II of the CRA, many legal questions
and challenges to the law still ensued. Challenges to the
gender protections in the CRA persisted for some time
with the Supreme Court confirming several times gender
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association