United States of America Ex Rel. George Atterbury v. Joseph E. Ragen, Warden, Illinois Penitentiary

I agree the judgment appealed must be affirmed. Yet I would point up the reason why Atterbury’s verified complaint, to which no responsive pleading was filed below, fails in stating a cause of action under the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985(2) and (3), R.S. §§ 1977, 1979, 1980. The deficiency lies in the factual situation on which Atterbury bottoms his complaint. It is not how he has pleaded, as a matter of form or style, but what he has pleaded that cuts ground from under his position. Indeed because he is a layman presenting his appeal pro se, my brothers and I…