United States v. Fox (334 F.2d 449, 1964)

JONES, Circuit Judge.

The United States, alleging that Negro citizens of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, were being deprived of voting rights secured by Federal statute, brought an action against Mary Ethel Fox, the Registrar of Voters, Lionel L. Lassus, the Deputy Registrar of Voters of Plaque-mines Parish, and against the State of Louisiana, pursuant to congressional authorization, seeking injunctive relief from discrimination against Negroes in voter registrations in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

In the complaint, filed on October 16, 1961, it was alleged that since January 1953, Negroes had been subjected to discrimination by (a) applying different and more stringent procedures and standards in administering the requirement of the Louisiana Constitution and statutes that applicants give a reasonable interpretation of any section of the Constitution of the United States or the State of Louisiana; (b) rejecting Negro applicants for errors or omissions in completing their applications while assisting white applicants in filling out their forms; and (c) refusing to register qualified Negroes. There was a specific averment that discrimination against Negroes had deprived them of their rights to vote, and such deprivation had been pursuant to a plan and practice. The prayer of the complaint sought a finding that the acts and practices as alleged constituted deprivations of rights secured by 42 U.S.C.A. § 1971(a), Note 1, supra, and a finding that such deprivations were pursuant to a pattern and practice. The court was asked to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction against the doing of any act which would deprive any citizen in Plaquemines Parish of the right to register and vote without distinctions based upon race or color, from engaging in any act which would delay, prevent, hinder, or discourage Negro citizens in Plaquemines Parish, on account of their race or color, from applying for registration and becoming registered voters, and from applying different and more stringent procedures and standards to Negro applicants than to white applicants. The application of the “freezing” doctrine, so called, was sought by a specific prayer for an order requiring the registration of all Negroes who had applied for registration since January 1953, and who possessed at the time of their applications the qualifications of the least qualified white person who had applied for and had been registered since that time. Answers were filed denying discrimination against Negroes in the administration of the voter registration laws in Plaquemines Parish.

On April 13, 1962, the United States filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and for the finding of a pattern or practice. The motion sought an order, during the pendency of the case, to enjoin the defendants from engaging in any act or practice resulting in distinctions based on race or color in the registration or voting processes in the Parish ; and specifically requested the court to order the defendants:

“1. To register as a voter any Negro applicant who possesses the following qualifications and none of the following disqualifications :