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State University of Iowa Human Rights Committee first annual report and correspondence, 1963

An Analysis of the Kastenmeier Omnibus Civil Rights Bill Page 2

Note: Under the voting referee procedure, the district judge who issues voting orders has the power to enforce them himself. (The federal registrar proposed in 1960 would not have been able to enforce his own orders). Under a Kastenmeier amendment to the referee procedure, the district judge is selected by the chief judge of the circuit, responsible official, the referee procedure should be far more effective than the registrar plan.
     Section 102, derived from the Republican bill, orders the Bureau of the Census to conduct a immediate State-by-State census and to analyze the limitations upon voting rights. With these determinations , Congress should have the data with which to enforce the second section of the Fourteenth Amendment if it so desires. Were that section enforced, it is estimated that Southern states would lose up to half of their representatives in Congress and in the Electoral College unless the Negro were allowed to vote. 

TITLE II
     The administration's bill, relying primarily upon the commerce clause and only incidentally upon the 14th Amendment, provides that all persons shall be entitled to the equal enjoyment of goods, services and accommodations in public establishments which have substantial relation to interstate commerce. Such goods and services are to be provided to all without discrimination or segregation on account of race.
     Establishments covered by the bill include hotels and motels furnishing lodging to guests traveling in interstate commerce, and theaters, stadiums and other public places of amusement. Also covered are department stores, drug stores, restaurants and the like, if their activities substantially affect interstate travel or commerce. 
     The bill provides for injunctive relief through proceedings instituted by a person aggrieved by discriminatory treatment. The Attorney General also may institute proceedings if the person aggrieved is unable to do so because of the expense or because of fear of reprisal.
     Prior to bringing action, the Attorney General must give State or local authorities opportunity to act where local laws or regulations appear to forbid the discriminatory Relations Service established by Title IV or the bill. The Service would then endeavor to secure voluntary compliance. The Attorney General may bring suit immediately, however, where he determines referral or conciliation efforts would be fruitless.
     H.R. 7702, the Kastenmeier bill, follows the administration's public accommodations provisions closely. However, it covers in addition businesses which operate under State authority or license, or which discriminate under direct or indirect compulsion or sanction by the State. Thus, the 14th Amendment, as well as the commerce clause, is brought to bear on the problem. At the same time, the Kastenmeier bill adds to the exclusion for bona fide private clubs a Mrs. Murphy boarding house exclusion for owner-occupied private homes which rent out not more than five rooms.

TITLE III
     "Title III" is appropriate for this tite, for it lodges in the Attorney General much of that standing to sue proposed originally in the 1957 Title III which ran aground in the Senate. The present title is derived from H.R. 6031 (Rep. Ryan). The administration bill contains no broad comparable right to sue for 14th Amendment violations (except for school integration).
     Under the provisions of this title, the Attorney General may go to court in these situations:
     First. He may sue for injunctive relief if any person or group or persons is being denied equal protection of the laws and if the victim or victims are unable to sue on their own initiative - this inability may take the form of insufficient finances or the likelihood of economic reprisals. The initiative may be the Attorney General's own: he is not obliged to wait for a complaint.
     Second. He may intervene in any private school segregation action. Unlike the

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Note: Under the voting referee procedure, the district judge who issues voting orders has the power to enforce them himself. (The federal registrar proposed in 1960 would not have been able to enforce his own orders). Under a Kastenmeier amendment to the referee procedure, the district judge is selected by the chief judge of the circuit, responsible official, the referee procedure should be far more effective than the registrar plan. Section 102, derived from the Republican bill, orders the Bureau of the Census to conduct a immediate State-by-State census and to analyze the limitations upon voting rights. With these determinations , Congress should have the data with which to enforce the second section of the Fourteenth Amendment if it so desires. Were that section enforced, it is estimated that Southern states would lose up to half of their representatives in Congress and in the Electoral College unless the Negro were allowed to vote. TITLE II The administration's bill, relying primarily upon the commerce clause and only incidentally upon the 14th Amendment, provides that all persons shall be entitled to the equal enjoyment of goods, services and accommodations in public establishments which have substantial relation to interstate commerce. Such goods and services are to be provided to all without discrimination or segregation on account of race. Establishments covered by the bill include hotels and motels furnishing lodging to guests traveling in interstate commerce, and theaters, stadiums and other public places of amusement. Also covered are department stores, drug stores, restaurants and the like, if their activities substantially affect interstate travel or commerce. The bill provides for injunctive relief through proceedings instituted by a person aggrieved by discriminatory treatment. The Attorney General also may institute proceedings if the person aggrieved is unable to do so because of the expense or because of fear of reprisal. Prior to bringing action, the Attorney General must give State or local authorities opportunity to act where local laws or regulations appear to forbid the discriminatory Relations Service established by Title IV or the bill. The Service would then endeavor to secure voluntary compliance. The Attorney General may bring suit immediately, however, where he determines referral or conciliation efforts would be fruitless. H.R. 7702, the Kastenmeier bill, follows the administration's public accommodations provisions closely. However, it covers in addition businesses which operate under State authority or license, or which discriminate under direct or indirect compulsion or sanction by the State. Thus, the 14th Amendment, as well as the commerce clause, is brought to bear on the problem. At the same time, the Kastenmeier bill adds to the exclusion for bona fide private clubs a Mrs. Murphy boarding house exclusion for owner-occupied private homes which rent out not more than five rooms. TITLE III "Title III" is appropriate for this tite, for it lodges in the Attorney General much of that standing to sue proposed originally in the 1957 Title III which ran aground in the Senate. The present title is derived from H.R. 6031 (Rep. Ryan). The administration bill contains no broad comparable right to sue for 14th Amendment violations (except for school integration). Under the provisions of this title, the Attorney General may go to court in these situations: First. He may sue for injunctive relief if any person or group or persons is being denied equal protection of the laws and if the victim or victims are unable to sue on their own initiative - this inability may take the form of insufficient finances or the likelihood of economic reprisals. The initiative may be the Attorney General's own: he is not obliged to wait for a complaint. Second. He may intervene in any private school segregation action. Unlike the