Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Segregation in courtrooms is unlawful and may not be enforced through contempt citations for disobedience1 or through other means. Treatment of parties to or witnesses in judicial actions based on their race is impermissible.2 Jail inmates have a right not to be segregated by race unless there is some overriding necessity arising out of the process of keeping order.3

Footnotes

1

Johnson v. Virginia, 373 U.S. 61 (1963).

2

Hamilton v. Alabama, 376 U.S. 650 (1964) (reversing contempt conviction of witness who refused to answer questions so long as prosecutor addressed her by her first name).

3

Lee v. Washington, 390 U.S. 333 (1968); Wilson v. Kelley, 294 F. Supp. 1005 (N.D.Ga.), aff’d, 393 U.S. 266 (1968).