May 3 · This Day in America
For decades, the cleanest tool of American segregation wasn't a law — it was a clause. Racially restrictive covenants written into property deeds barred Black families from buying or living in whole neighborhoods, and courts enforced them. In 1945 the Shelleys, a Black family, bought a house in St. Louis under one of those covenants. A neighbor sued to throw them out. On May 3, 1948, a unanimous Supreme Court says no: a private prejudice may exist, but the moment a court enforces it, that is state action — and the Fourteenth Amendment forbids it. The covenants didn't vanish overnight; the architecture of segregation was patient and deep. But a wall that had quietly drawn the map of American cities had just lost its power to call the police. A family kept its house. The promise of equal protection moved one stone forward.
Source: supreme.justia.com
Also on this day · 1971
Antiwar demonstrators try to shut down Washington by blocking traffic and bridges. Police and troops sweep the streets, hauling people into a stadium and a practice field. Over the protests' course more than 12,000 are detained — the largest mass arrest in U.S. history. Courts later voided most of the charges, ruling the dragnet arrests unconstitutional, and the government eventually paid damages.
Source: www.history.com