Griffin v. Maryland (378 U.S. 130)/Concurrence Clark

by Tom C. Clark

United States Supreme Court

378 U.S. 130

Griffin  v.  Maryland

 Argued: Oct. 14 and 15, 1963. --- Decided: June 22, 1964

Mr. Justice CLARK, concurring.

I join the Court's opinion with the understanding that it merely holds, under the peculiar facts here, that the State 'must be recognized as a joint participant in the challenged activity.' See Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715, 725, 81 S.Ct. 856, 6 L.Ed.2d 45 (1961). Deputy Sheriff Collins, an agent of the State, was regularly employed by Glen Echo in the enforcement of its segregation policy. I cannot, therefore, say, as does my Brother HARLAN, that the situation 'is no different from what it would have been had the arrests been made by a regular policeman dispatched from police headquarters.' Here Collins, the deputy sheriff, ordered petitioners to leave the park before any charges were filed. Upon refusal, Collins, the deputy sheriff, made the arrest and then took petitioners to the police station where he filed the charges and secured the warrant. If Collins had not been a police officer, if he had ordered the appellants off the premises and filed the charges of criminal trespass, and if then, for the first time, the police had come on the scene to serve a warrant issued in due course by a magistrate, based on the charges filed, that might be a different case. That case we do not pass upon.

Mr Justice HARLAN, whom Mr. Justice BLACK and Mr. Justice WHITE join, dissenting.

The pivotal issue in this case is whether petitioners' exclusion from Glen Echo, a private anusement park, was the product of state action. I accept the premise that in arresting these petitioners Collins was exercising his authority as deputy sheriff rather than his right as an individual under Maryland law, see 225 Md., at 431, 171 A.2d, at 721, to arrest them for a misdemeanor being committed in his presence. It seems clear to me, however, that the involvement of the State is no different from what it would have been had the arrests been made by a regular policeman dispatched from police headquarters.

I believe, therefore, that this case is controlled by the principles discussed in Mr. Justice BLACK'S opinion in Be l v. Maryland, 377 U.S. 318, 84 S.Ct. 1864, and accordingly would affirm the judgment below.

Notes