Brief Fact Summary. Upon addressing specific issues of statutory construction, the Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) reversed the dismissals of the Defendants’, Guest and others (Defendants) indictments.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. 18 U.S.C. Section:241 does encompass Fourteenth Amendment constitutional rights.
Issue. Whether the federal indictment is based on an offense under the laws of the United States?
Held. Yes. Judgment of the District Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. Section 241 does encompass Fourteenth Amendment constitutional rights. Here, the indictment contains an express allegation of state involvement sufficient at least to require denial of a motion to dismiss. The allegation of official involvement is not clear, but it is broad enough to encompass conduct amounting to official discrimination sufficient to constitute denial of rights protected by equal protection. The second dismissal mentioned in the case was in error as well because the right to travel occupies a position fundamental to the concept of our Federal Union. If the predominate purpose of the conspiracy is to prevent the exercise of the right of travel, or to oppress a person of that right, as was the case here, then whether or not motivated by racial discrimination, the conspiracy becomes a proper object of federal law under which the indictment was brought. Therefore, the federal indict
ment is based on an offense under the laws of the United States.
We are all citizens of the United States; and, as members of the same community, must have the right to pass and repass through every part of it without interruption, as freely as in our own States.
View Full Point of Law