Judge Frank M. Johnson: Judicial Fairness in the Age of Segregation

Judge Frank M. Johnson: Judicial Fairness in the Age of Segregation. Molton and Montgomery Streets. Following two attempted marches from Selma in 1965 civil rights leaders turned to the federal courts for legal protection prior to the Selma To Montgomery March. Federal District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., appointed by President Eisenhower in 1955, oversaw the case. Judge Johnson had previously ruled with the majority opinion in the case that made it illegal to segregate city busses after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to white passengers. Looking at 1954's Brown v. Board of Education case as a precedent, Johnson found it unconstitutional to segregate facilities based on race., In the 1965 case, Judge Johnson weighed the right of mobility against the right to march, ruling in favor of the demonstrators. He declared that the march led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery for voting equity was "basic to our constitutional principles." Judge Johnson received support from President Lyndon B. Johnson, who authorized the Alabama National Guard to serve as protection This landmark decision paved the way forward for the march and ultimately the civil rights movement., "THE LAW IS CLEAR THAT THE RIGHT TO PETITION ONE'S GOVERNMENT FOR THE REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES MAY BE EXERCISED IN LARGE GROUPS AND THESE RIGHTS MAY BE EXERCISED BY MARCHING, EVEN ALONG PUBLIC HIGHWAYS." – JUDGE FRANK M. JOHNSON, JR