United States v. Guest
383 U.S. 745 (1966)
Premium Feature
Subscribe to Lexplug to listen to the Case Podcast.
Rule of Law:
The federal criminal conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 241, can be used to prosecute private individuals who conspire to interfere with the constitutional right to interstate travel. The statute can also be used to prosecute private conspiracies to violate Fourteenth Amendment rights, such as the equal utilization of state facilities, provided there is an allegation of state involvement in the conspiracy.
Facts:
- Herbert Guest and five other individuals formed a conspiracy in the vicinity of Athens, Georgia.
- The object of the conspiracy was to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate Black citizens to prevent them from exercising their constitutional rights.
- The conspirators specifically sought to deprive Black citizens of their right to the equal utilization of state-owned public facilities, such as parks, without racial discrimination.
- The conspirators also aimed to interfere with the right of Black citizens to travel freely to and from the State of Georgia.
- The methods to be used by the conspirators included violence such as shooting, beating, and killing Black citizens, as well as property damage and threats.
- One of the alleged means of carrying out the conspiracy was to cause the arrest of Black citizens by making false reports to law enforcement officials that they had committed crimes.
Procedural Posture:
- A United States grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia indicted Herbert Guest and five other individuals for criminal conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241.
- The defendants filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia to dismiss the indictment for failure to charge an offense under federal law.
- The District Court granted the defendants' motion and dismissed the indictment in its entirety.
- The United States, as the appellant, filed a direct appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Premium Content
Subscribe to Lexplug to view the complete brief
You're viewing a preview with Rule of Law, Facts, and Procedural Posture
Issue:
Does 18 U.S.C. § 241, which criminalizes conspiracies to injure a citizen in the exercise of any right secured by the Constitution, apply to conspiracies by private individuals to interfere with the right to equal utilization of state facilities secured by the Fourteenth Amendment and the constitutional right to interstate travel?
Opinions:
Majority - Justice Stewart
Yes, as to both rights, but with a qualification for the Fourteenth Amendment right. The constitutional right of interstate travel is a fundamental right of national citizenship secured by the Constitution against interference from any source, private or governmental; therefore, a conspiracy by private individuals to interfere with this right is prosecutable under § 241. In contrast, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects only against state action, not purely private conduct. However, the indictment's allegation that the conspirators caused the arrest of Black citizens through false reports is a sufficient allegation of state involvement to allow the prosecution for conspiracy to interfere with Fourteenth Amendment rights to proceed.
Concurring - Justice Clark
Yes. While agreeing with the Court's holding and its interpretation of the indictment, this opinion writes separately to state a broader principle that the majority avoids. Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment grants Congress the power to enact laws that punish all conspiracies—with or without state action—that interfere with the rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Therefore, Congress is fully empowered to punish the purely private conspiracy alleged in this case.
Concurring-in-part-and-dissenting-in-part - Justice Harlan
No, as to the right to travel against private interference. While the Constitution protects the right to travel from unreasonable governmental interference, it does not create a right to be free from private interference. By holding that § 241 reaches purely private conspiracies against interstate travel, the Court is impermissibly creating a new federal common law crime. This portion of the indictment should only be sustained on the same basis as the Fourteenth Amendment claim—that it sufficiently alleges state interference with the right.
Concurring-in-part-and-dissenting-in-part - Justice Brennan
Yes, as to both rights, but for different reasons than the majority. Section 241, as a valid exercise of Congress's power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibits all conspiracies to interfere with a right 'secured by the Constitution,' regardless of whether the Constitution itself only protects that right from governmental interference. Therefore, a purely private conspiracy to prevent the equal use of state facilities is prosecutable under § 241, and the majority's reliance on the 'false reports' allegation to find state involvement is unnecessary and unduly restrictive.
Analysis:
This case significantly expanded the federal government's power to prosecute civil rights violations committed by private individuals. The Court's holding that the constitutional right to travel is protected from private interference created a new avenue for federal intervention. Even more consequentially, while the majority opinion required state involvement for the Fourteenth Amendment claim, the separate opinions of Justices Clark and Brennan, joined by four other justices in total, articulated a broader view that Congress possesses the power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to punish purely private conspiracies. This collective view signaled a major shift in constitutional interpretation, paving the way for broader civil rights legislation and enforcement against private actors.
