Gilmore v. City of Montgomery

The present phase of this prolonged litigation concerns the propriety of a federal court’s enjoining a municipality from permitting the use of public park recreational facilities by private segregated school groups and by other non-school groups that allegedly discriminate in their membership on the basis of race. We granted certiorari to consider this important issue. 414 U. S. 907 (1973).

I

Petitioners are Negro citizens of Montgomery, Alabama. In December 1958, now over 15 years ago, they instituted this class action to desegregate Montgomery’s public parks. The defendants are the city, its…