Assistant Attorney General LaRue Brown to Mrs. Eva B. Davis
Title
Assistant Attorney General LaRue Brown to Mrs. Eva B. Davis
Creator
Brown, LaRue, 1883-1969
Identifier
TI00249d
Date
1918 June 27
Description
Explaining that a Supreme Court case prevents the Department of Justice from taking any action in the matter of lynching and mob violence.
Source
National Archives and Records Administration 230/06/41 file #158260 box #1276 NARA ID #58
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library
Subject
African-Americans--segregation
Language
English
Text
Mrs. Eva B. Davis,
12 Phillips Street,
Watertown, Massachusetts.
Madam:
Your letter of the 10th instant to the President of the United States, relative to the lynching of negroes by mobs in the several States, has been referred to this Department. Many such complaints are referred here, but the obstacle which prevents this Department from taking any action in regard to the matter is that the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Hodges v. United States, 203 U. S. 1, held that the Federal Government had no power under the Constitution to interfere in the protection of the fundamental rights of citizens of the several States. The court held that the matter was purely one for State control, but that Federal control over it was not justified by the Constitution of the United States.
Respectfully,
For the Attorney General,
(Signed) LaRue Brown
Assistant Attorney General.
12 Phillips Street,
Watertown, Massachusetts.
Madam:
Your letter of the 10th instant to the President of the United States, relative to the lynching of negroes by mobs in the several States, has been referred to this Department. Many such complaints are referred here, but the obstacle which prevents this Department from taking any action in regard to the matter is that the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Hodges v. United States, 203 U. S. 1, held that the Federal Government had no power under the Constitution to interfere in the protection of the fundamental rights of citizens of the several States. The court held that the matter was purely one for State control, but that Federal control over it was not justified by the Constitution of the United States.
Respectfully,
For the Attorney General,
(Signed) LaRue Brown
Assistant Attorney General.
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Brown, LaRue, 1883-1969, “Assistant Attorney General LaRue Brown to Mrs. Eva B. Davis,” 1918 June 27, TI00249d, Race and Segregation Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.