NAACP v. Alabama (1958)

After the Brown decision, several Southern states initiated lawsuits to ban the NAACP’s statewide effort to advance desegregation. On June 1, 1956, Alabama attorney general John W. Patterson sued the NAACP for violation of a state law requiring out-of-state corporations to register. A state judge ordered the NAACP to suspend operations and submit branch records, including membership lists, or incur a $100,000 fine. In NAACP v. Alabama (1958) a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the NAACP had the right, by freedom of association, not to disclose its membership lists. After several appeals, the NAACP was finally able to resume operations in Alabama in 1964. Fred Gray was the local NAACP counsel.