Supreme Court Orders Georgia Legislature to Seat Julian Bond
In Bond v. Floyd, decided on this day, the Supreme Court unanimously ordered Julian Bond to be seated in the Georgia legislature. He took his seat on January 9, 1967.
Civil rights leader Julian Bond had been elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, but the legislature refused to seat him in January 1966, because of his civil rights activities and political views.
Bond had been one of the leaders of the sit-ins in Atlanta, George, in 1960, and was also a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
The Court: “Just as erroneous statements must be protected to give freedom of expression the breathing space it needs to survive, so statements criticizing public policy and the implementation of it must be similarly protected.”
Learn more about Julian Bond at the SNCC Digital Gateway.
Watch an interview with Julian Bond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlJxPpGUggY
Read: Julian Bond, A Time to Speak, A Time to Act (1972)
Listen to/read an oral history interview with Julian Bond.
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here