William O. Douglas

Name: Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent
Author: William O. Douglas

Summary

“Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent”, is a work by William O. Douglas. It explores elements such as the Ninth Amendment, facility and swimming.

Quotes from Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent (William O. Douglas)

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ There is, of course, not a word in the Constitution, unlike many modern constitutions, concerning the right of the people to education or to work or to recreation by swimming or otherwise. Those rights, like the right to pure air and pure water, may well be rights 'retained by the people' under the Ninth Amendment. May the people vote them down as well as up?
A State may not, of course, interfere with interstate commerce; and to the extent that public services are rendered by interstate agencies the State by reason of the Supremacy Clause is powerless to escape. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ If not included, those rights become narrow legalistic concepts which turn on the formalism of laws, not on their spirit.
I conclude that though a State may discontinue any of its municipal services-such as schools, parks, pools, athletic fields, and the like-it may not do so for the purpose of perpetuating or installing apartheid or because it finds life in a multi-racial community difficult or unpleasant. If that is its reason, then abolition of a designated public service becomes a device for perpetuating a segregated way of life. That a State may not do. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ That would dedicate the State to backwardness, ignorance, and existence in a new Dark Age. Yet is there anything in the Constitution that says that a State must have a public school system? Could a federal court enjoin the dismantling of a public school system? Could a federal court order a city to levy the taxes necessary to construct a public school system? Such supervision over municipal affairs by federal courts would be a vast undertaking, conceivably encompassing schools, parks, playgrounds, civic auditoriums, tennis courts, athletic fields, as well as swimming pools. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ The State enacts no law saying that the races may not swim together. Yet it eliminates all its swimming pools so that the races will not have the opportunity to swim together. While racially motivated state action is involved, it is of an entirely negative character. Yet it is in the penumbra [5] of the policies of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments and as a matter of constitutional policy should be in the category of those enumerated rights protected by the Ninth Amendment. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ But by placing a racial label on a candidate at the most crucial stage in the electoral process the instant before the vote is cast-the State furnishes a vehicle by which racial prejudice may be so aroused as to operate against one group because of race and for another. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ A candidate may be defeated because the voters are bigots. A racial issue may inflame a community causing it to vote a humane measure down. The federal judiciary cannot become involved in those kinds of controversies. The question for the federal judiciary is not what the motive was, put what the consequences are.
In Reitman an active housing program had been racially dominated and then controlled by a state law ending discrimination. But in time the State reversed its policy and lifted the anti-discrimination controls. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ This is true because by directing the citizen's attention to the single consideration of race or color, the State indicates that a candidate's race or color is an important perhaps paramount-consideration in the citizen's choice, which may decisively influence the citizen to cast his ballot along racial lines.' 375 U.S., at 402, 84 S.Ct., at 456. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ Under Burton, if the State has a continuing connection with a swimming pool, it becomes a public facility and the State is under obligation to see that the operators meet all Fourteenth Amendment responsibilities. 365 U.S., at 725, 81 S.Ct., at 861. We may not reverse under Burton because we do not know what the relevant facts are. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Palmer v. Thompson — Dissent

“ Louisisiana, as part of her strategy to avoid a desegregated public school system, authorized the Governor to close any public school ordered to be integrated. The three-judge District Court relying on Cooper v. ”

William O. Douglas

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