United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Robinson v. Florida, 378 U.S. 153 (1964)

Robinson v. Florida

No. 60

Argued October 15, 1963

Decided June 22, 1964

378 U.S. 153

Syllabus

Following refusal by appellants, Negroes and whites, to leave a Miami, Florida, restaurant, they were arrested and convicted under a state misdemeanor statute proscribing a guest's remaining at a restaurant after having been asked to leave by the management. The State Supreme Court affirmed, holding the statute did not deny equal protection of the laws. At the time of the arrest, a State Health Board regulation applicable to restaurants and adopted under the legislature's authority required segregated rest rooms, and the State had issued a manual based on state regulations requiring segregated facilities.

Held: The regulations embodying a state policy which discouraged serving the two races together, involved the State so significantly in causing restaurant segregation as to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Peterson v. City of Greenville, 373 U. S. 244, followed. Pp. 153-157. 144 So. 2d 811, reversed.