Powell v. State of Alabama [ACLU MT Rights]

Powell v. State of Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 (1932)

"Alabama justice can't be bought with Jew money from New York!"
--Alabama prosecutor Wade Wright

"A defendant must have sufficient time to advise with counsel and prepare his defense."

Paint Rock, Alabama, 1931. Sherrifs pull nine young black men off a frieght train after two white girls on the train accuse the boys of rape. They are arrested and taken to Jackson County Jail in Scottsboro. An angry crowd gathers. The governor calls the National Guard. Until minutes before their trial, the boys have no lawyer (nor were they given the opportunity to get one). An all-white jury convicts; all but the youngest are sentenced to death.

The Scottsboro Boys appeal. In 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court orders a new trial. "A defendant, charged with a serious crime," writes Justice George Sutherland, "must not be stripped of his right to have sufficient time to advise with counsel and prepare his defense. To do that is not to proceed promptly in the calm spirit of regulated justice but to go forward with the haste of the mob."

For more...

AFRO-AMERIC@: The Scottsboro Boys

Court TV Greatest Trials of All Time: The Scottsboro Boys

FindLaw® full text of decision.

Oyez® audio of arguments.

AMENDMENT 14 Due Process and Equal Protection of the Law

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

[Amendment 14] 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. [^].

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