Civil Rights, the Constitution, and the Courts

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Two eminent legal scholars and a leading newspaperman, in three addresses delivered in the 1965–66 Massachusetts Historical Society series of Special Evening Gatherings on the Law and the Common Man, discussed aspects of the current civil rights movement and concern for equality in the courts. Mark Howe, in his lecture “Federalism and Civil Rights,” attempts to identify and define “the concept which, above all others, has served to incapacitate the Nation’s conscience.” He sees this in Federalism and discusses it in relation to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. Archibald Cox, in “Direct Action, Civil Disobedience, and the Constitution,” scrupulously analyzes, from a legal point of view, the validity and implications of the use of civil disobedience as a tactic in the freedom movement. Finally, J.R. Wiggins, in “The Press and the Courts,” points out anew the importance of continuing public scrutiny—and the achievements and short comings of newspapers in this regard—in the proper administration of justice.