John Frazier v. Lowndes County, Mississippi, Board of Education

Holders of Sixteenth Section leases in Lowndes County brought suit against the Lowndes County School Board and county officials charging that the defendants had threatened to cancel their leases unless they agreed to a higher rent. These threats and threatened actions were alleged to be in violation of the leaseholders’ rights under the Impairment of Contract Clause, the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendment Due Process Clauses, and Mississippi law. The district court dismissed the federal constitutional claims for failure to state a claim, then dismissed the pendent state claims. The leaseholders…