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A "Notorious Litigant" and "Frequenter of Jails": Martin Luther King, Jr., His Lawyers, and the Legal System Leonard S

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A Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy Volume 10 Issue 3 Special Symposium Issue: Martin Luther King's Article 1 Lawyers: From Montgomery to the March on Washington to Memphis Fall 2016 A "Notorious Litigant" and "Frequenter of Jails": Martin Luther King, Jr., His Lawyers, and the Legal System Leonard S. Rubinowitz Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Michelle Shaw Michal Crowder Recommended Citation Leonard S. Rubinowitz, Michelle Shaw, and Michal Crowder, A "Notorious Litigant" and "Frequenter of Jails": Martin Luther King, Jr., His Lawyers, and the Legal System, 10 Nw. J. L. & Soc. Pol'y. 494 (2016). http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njlsp/vol10/iss3/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy by an authorized administrator of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Copyright 2016 by Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Vol. 10, Issue 3 (2016) Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy Symposium: Martin Luther King’s Lawyers: From Montgomery to the March on Washington to Memphis—A Symposium Commemorating the Contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Lawyers A “NOTORIOUS LITIGANT” AND “FREQUENTER OF JAILS”: MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., HIS LAWYERS, AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM Leonard S. Rubinowitz* with Michelle Shaw† & Michal Crowder‡ INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................496 MOVEMENT AND EVENT DESCRIPTIONS ...............................................................500 I. CHOOSING THE LAWYERS ...........................................................................505 A. The Process of Enlisting Lawyers .........................................................506 B. Selection Factors ..................................................................................509 1. The Lawyers’ Locations: Local and Northern Lawyers .................510 i. Local Lawyers ...........................................................................510 ii. Northern Lawyers .....................................................................517 2. Identity Factors ...............................................................................519 * Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. The authors acknowledge the generous support from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Faculty Research Program. The authors wish to express their appreciation to research assistants Sandra Abrevaya, Samuel Aintablian, Allyson Bain, Evan Bianchi, Margarita Botero, Sylvia Baraniewski, Connor Burke, Alan Campbell, Nathan Cao, Nicholas Carson, Micah Chavin, Patrick Cordova, Paige Cunningham, Emily Damrau, Tal Druyan, Adanne Ebo, Robert Garsson, Leesa Haspel, Kathryn Hogg, Katherine Klein, Jeff Kolemay, Michael Lowes, Caitlin Martini, Lilly Mitelman, Brian O'Connell, Christina Otero, Laura Pone, Iulia Padeanu, Richard Scinteie, Reena Sikdar, Julie Silverstein, Joline Smith, Jamie Sommer, Ryan Sugg, Corey Walker, and Jordan Woods. A special thanks to Josh Hutton for his exceptional work in bringing this project to fruition. Thanks also to Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy editors Shirin Savliwala, Emma Olson, Leesa Haspel, and Noah Brozinsky; Kimberly Clair Seymour, for her extraordinary job chairing the symposium: Martin Luther King’s Lawyers: From Montgomery to the March on Washington to Memphis—A Symposium Commemorating the Contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Lawyers, Oct. 31, 2014, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, Chicago, Illinois; librarians Pegeen Bassett and Marcia Lehr; Tim Jacobs, for logistical assistance; and Shari Dunn, for helpful comments. † J.D., Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. ‡ J.D., Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Vol. 10:3] Leonard S. Rubinowitz i. Race ...........................................................................................519 ii. Gender .......................................................................................521 iii. Religion .....................................................................................525 iv. Age ............................................................................................526 3. Strategic Commitments ...................................................................527 4. Civil Rights Legal Organizations ....................................................529 i. NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund ............................529 ii. NAACP .....................................................................................535 iii. American Civil Liberties Union ................................................536 iv. National Lawyers Guild ............................................................537 5. An Inner Circle ...............................................................................538 II. DEPLOYING THE LAWYERS: THE EARLY YEARS (1955–1962) ...................542 A. Support for Nonviolent Direct Action ...................................................543 1. Defending Dr. King, His Organizations, and the Protesters ...........544 i. Criminal Defense ......................................................................544 a. Montgomery Boycott Prosecution (1956) ..........................545 b. Dr. King’s Alabama Perjury Trial (1960) ...........................548 c. Dr. King’s Incarceration in Georgia (1960) ........................550 d. The Albany (Georgia) Movement (1961–1962) .................553 ii. Civil Actions: Libel Cases ........................................................557 2. Permissions and Injunctions ...........................................................559 i. Montgomery: Permissions and Injunction (1955–1956) ..........560 ii. Albany, Georgia: Injunction (1961–1962) ................................562 3. Fundraising .....................................................................................565 B. Complementary Desegregation Litigation ............................................566 1. The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1957) ..................................570 2. The Albany (Georgia) Movement (1961–1962) .............................578 III. DEPLOYING THE LAWYERS: THE LATER YEARS (1963–1968) ...................580 A. The Abandonment of Complementary Desegregation Litigation .........581 B. Support for Nonviolent Direct Action ...................................................588 1. Defending Dr. King, His Organizations, and the Protesters ...........589 i. Birmingham: Defending the Children (1963) ...........................590 ii. St. Augustine (1963–1964) .......................................................592 iii. Poor People’s Campaign (1968) ...............................................594 2. Other Defense Work: Chicago Evictions (1965–1966) ..................596 3. Permissions and Injunctions ...........................................................598 i. Birmingham: Permission and Injunction (1963) .......................598 ii. St. Augustine: Injunction (1963–1964) .....................................604 iii. Selma: Injunction (1965) ..........................................................607 iv. Chicago: Injunction (1965–1966) .............................................610 v. Memphis: Injunction (1968) .....................................................612 495 NORTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIAL POLICY [2016 vi. Poor People’s Campaign: Permission (1968) ...........................615 4. Fundraising .....................................................................................616 i. Birmingham ..............................................................................616 ii. March on Washington ...............................................................617 CONCLUSION .........................................................................................................618 APPENDIX .............................................................................................................621 “I have a deep and abiding admiration for the legal profession and the tremendous role it has played in the service of the cause with which I have been identified. The road to freedom is now a highway because lawyers throughout the land, yesterday and today, have helped clear the obstructions, have helped eliminate roadblocks, by their selfless, courageous espousal of difficult and unpopular causes.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.1 INTRODUCTION When Martin Luther King, Jr. started college, he considered becoming a lawyer.2 When he abandoned that idea in favor of the ministry, he could not have imagined the central role that lawyers would play in his life. A decade into his career, Dr. King observed: “It is common knowledge that I have had a little something to do with lawyers since the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.”3 He then described himself as a “notorious litigant” and a “frequenter of jails.”4 Notwithstanding his core philosophical, moral, and strategic commitment to nonviolent direct action, Dr. King had an extraordinary amount of interaction with lawyers and with the legal system, though often not by choice. Dr. King’s activism began and ended with lawyers and the courts. From the 1955 arrest and prosecution of Rosa Parks in Montgomery that jump-started his career,5 to the 1968 court victory in the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike on the day of his death,6 lawyers served as a nearly constant companion—a
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