Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority

Background

A Black man went to the Eagle Coffee Shoppe, a restaurant inside a parking garage owned and run by the Wilmington Parking Authority, and was refused service because of his race. The Authority is a public agency created by the City of Wilmington to provide parking and to finance the facility by leasing commercial space. Eagle leased space for a long term, paid rent, made improvements, and the building was publicly owned, flew state and national flags, and served the public.

Reasoning

The Court asked whether Eagle’s refusal could be treated as action by the State. The Delaware Supreme Court had called Eagle purely private and therefore outside the Fourteenth Amendment. The United States Supreme Court disagreed. It said the Authority’s ownership, financial role, leases, public purpose, and the close interdependence between the restaurant and the public parking facility made the discriminatory refusal effectively state action. The Court therefore held the refusal violated the Equal Protection Clause.

Real world impact

Because the restaurant was operating as part of a publicly owned project, the Court said the lessee must follow the Fourteenth Amendment as if the requirement were written into the lease. That means private businesses operating on public property in similar circumstances cannot lawfully deny service on racial grounds. The ruling reversed the Delaware decision and sent the case back for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Stewart wrote separately that the Delaware statute allowing a restaurateur to refuse service was itself unconstitutional. Justices Harlan and Frankfurter dissented, arguing the state court’s reasoning was unclear and the case should be returned for clarification before deciding broad constitutional questions.