Opinion

David Whatley v. City of Vidalia

  • 399 F.2d 521
  • 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 6146
Court
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Filed
Jul 11, 1968
Status
Published
Author
Godbold
On the bench
Tuttle, Thornberry, Godbold
Cited by
34 cases

exercise of the voting rights granted by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C.A. § 1973i(b); Wyche v. State of Louisiana, 5 Cir., 394 F.2d 927 (1967) (charge of aggravated burglary), and Achtenberg v. State of Mississippi, 5 Cir., 393 F.2d 468 (1968) (charge of vagrancy

How later courts described this case

  • exercise of the voting rights granted by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C.A. § 1973i(b); Wyche v. State of Louisiana, 5 Cir., 394 F.2d 927 (1967) (charge of aggravated burglary), and Achtenberg v. State of Mississippi, 5 Cir., 393 F.2d 468 (1968) (charge of vagrancy
  • defendants arrested while peacefully engaged in activity designed to encourage voter registration

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

GODBOLD, Circuit Judge

(specially concurring):

I concur in the conclusion that these cases must be remanded to the district court for evidentiary hearings. However, I point out that the federally-created *527 rights of 42 U.S.C.A. § 1973i(b) give protection against intimidating, threatening or coercing, or attempting to intimidate, threaten or coerce, “any person for voting or attempting to vote” and “any person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote.” The terms “vote” and “voting” are defined in 42 U.S.C.A. § 19731 (c) (1). The language of the petitions for removal quoted in the opinion of my brother judges is somewhat broader than the federally-protected rights created by § 1973i(b). Of course, the verbiage of the petitions cannot expand the rights that Congress has created, and the district court is bounded by the statutory language in determining whether the appellants’ activities were protected activities. I do not understand that my brother judges propose to broaden the Congressional language.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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