CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-EQUAL PROTECTION-JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT OF RACE RESTRICTIVE COVENANT

The highest courts of Missouri and Michigan, and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, had held that restrictions against occupancy of land by negroes were enforceable by injunction. On certiorari, held, reversed. Enforcement of such restrictions by state courts constitutes a denial of equal protection of the laws. Enforcement by courts of the District violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and also it is contrary to the public policy of the United States to allow a federal court to enforce an agreement which a state court could not constitutionally enforce. Shelley v. Kraemer, (U.S. 1948) 68 S.Ct. 836. Hurd v. Hodge, (U.S. 1948) 68 S.Ct. 847