Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1924-11-08
BEFORE
SUPREME COURT SOON

James A. Cobb, of Washing on,
of counsel for the Natfonal Assoc1a-
ton for the Advancement OF Colored
People. 60 Fifth Avenue, New York,
announced at the Associations offl1
ces, that the United States Supreme
Court would probably hear argument
next April in the case involving res
idnetial segregation of white and
colored people in the City of Wash
ington, D. c., and that number
of other cases are being held to awaiI
the outcome of the case now pending
before the Supreme Coura.
Mr.. Cobb also announced that he
would be joined in argument before
the Supreme Court by Moorf1e'd
Storey, former President Of the
American Bar Association, now Pres
ident of the Advancement Associa'
ton; by Louis Marshall, counsel for
Leo Frank and member of the
Board of Directors of the National
Association; by Henry r.. Davis,
former U. S. Attorney for the Dis
trict of Columbia; by Messrs. Arthur
B.. Spingarn and Herbert K. Stock
ton of New York and by William H.
Lewis, former Assistant U. S. At
torney General, of Boston.
"The case to come before the SUI
preme Court, on appeal from the
Court Of Appeals Of the District OF
Columbia" said Mr.. Cobb, lis that
of Mrs. Helen Curtis, enjoined from
taking possession Of property she
had bought, on the ground shat sale
to a co.ored woman violated the
terms of a properly owners agree
ment.
1.-THE residential rights of all mi
nority groups in America will de-
pend upon the decision rendered in
this case. Already there has been an
attemp. to segregate Jews in Mem
phis. Similar attempts may be made
against Catholics, japanese and
Chinese.
"In Washington group of white
citizens in the Bloomingdale resi-
Dental sectEon have organized com
mittee to fight for this residential
segregation against Negroes and at
their organization meeting on Octo'
Der "a, collected a sum reported to
be in excess of $1,000 for the pros
ecution of this and similar cases. e.
GAS illustrating The intense inter
est displayed in this litigation thru-
out the United States, I may cite a
recent case before the Supreme
Court of the Diseict of Columbia,
Rose E. Johnson ct al. VS. Ellen
Marie Robicheau. ct all, in which
the property owners were penalized
1000 for each of awo lots sold to
colored people, the penalty being
stipulated in a property owners
agreement.
"The ovinion delivered by Justice
Hoehling, sustains the imposition of
the penalty, and cites as his prece-
dena, the decision in the Helen Cur
tbs case by the District of Columbia
Court of Appeals, which has now
been appasled to ;Ae s. Supreme
Court However, III view of inn
pending argument before the United
STATES Supreme Court on the prior
case, Justice Hoehhling has withheld
his decree in order to await the SUI
| preme Court verdict.
''The question of residential Ser
gregation by city ordinance was de-
cided in 1917, in the SPECIALIZED Louis,
vile Case, where the Supreme Court
ruled that such segregation was un-
CONSTITUTIONAL. Segregation by agree
mens among property owners now
remains to be disposed Of and the
eyes of lawyers and of property own
ers throughout the country are di'
rected toward the case now pending.
n is a case that cannot fail pro-
foundly to affect the future Of race
relations in the United States. The
Importance Of this case is attested
by the names of such eminent law
yers as Messrs. Louis Marshall, Moor
field Storey, William H. Lewis,
Henry E. Davis, Arthur B. Spingarn
Herbert K. Stockton, who are asso'
ciate counsel for the National Asso-
citation for the Advancement of
Colored People"