Pioneering Litigation: Black Muslims as an Assertive Political Minority

In Cooper v. Pate (1964), the Supreme Court endorsed the use of federal civil rights lawsuits by prisoners in state prisons as a means to seek protection of constitutional rights. This chapter examines the litigation leading up to Cooper to illustrate the important role of Black Muslim prisoners in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Supreme Court and the Development of Law pp. 15 - 36
Main Author Smith, Christopher E
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Palgrave Macmillan 2016
Palgrave Macmillan US
Subjects
Black Muslims
Constitutional rights
Crime & criminology
Nation of Islam
Prisoner litigation
Prisoners’ rights
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Summary:In Cooper v. Pate (1964), the Supreme Court endorsed the use of federal civil rights lawsuits by prisoners in state prisons as a means to seek protection of constitutional rights. This chapter examines the litigation leading up to Cooper to illustrate the important role of Black Muslim prisoners in pursuing the initial litigation that eventually provided constitutional protections for all imprisoned offenders. The chapter devotes detailed attention to Martin Sostre. Sostre, a member of the Nation of Islam, was a prisoner in New York who endured solitary confinement and retaliation from officials as he filed important lawsuits in the 1960s and 1970s to assert that prisoners should enjoy certain protections under the US Constitution.
ISBN:9781137567628
1137567627
DOI:10.1057/978-1-137-56763-5_2