## Facts

- Samuel G. Cook and other Black plaintiffs brought a class action against The Advertiser Company, publisher of *The Montgomery Advertiser*, the primary newspaper in the area.
- Plaintiffs alleged the newspaper published wedding announcements from white submitters in its Sunday society section, while refusing to place Black couples’ announcements there and instead using a separate “Negro news” page.
- On May 18, 1970, Cook submitted a wedding announcement and photograph of his fiancée with a request that it run on the regular society page and not on the segregated page.
- The newspaper rejected Cook’s condition, and the announcement and photograph were not published.
- Plaintiffs sought damages and injunctive relief, including an order requiring publication in the regular society section, claiming the practice violated 42 U.S.C. § 1981 by denying Black persons equal rights to make and enforce contracts.
- The district court dismissed the complaint, and plaintiffs appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether submission of wedding announcements to a newspaper for possible publication creates a contract or contractual opportunity protected by 42 U.S.C. § 1981.
2. Whether, absent an enforceable contractual right, a court may compel or supervise a newspaper’s editorial decisions concerning the content and placement of society-page material.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the class action.
- The court held the submission process did not create an enforceable contract because the newspaper did not promise publication and the interaction lacked mutual assent and consideration.
- Without a contract or contractual obligation, plaintiffs failed to state a claim under § 1981.
- Because § 1981 did not apply on these facts, the court did not decide the First Amendment question of compelled publication and editorial control.

## Legal Principles

- Section 1981 protects equal rights “to make and enforce contracts” and does not supply a remedy where no contract or contractual opportunity exists.
- Mere submission of material for possible publication, without consideration and without a promise to publish, does not form an enforceable contract.
- Courts will not direct the content or arrangement of a newspaper’s pages in the absence of a clear enforceable right, particularly where judicial intervention would implicate editorial autonomy and press freedom.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit held that discriminatory placement or rejection of wedding announcements did not state a § 1981 claim because no contract arose from the voluntary submission process, and the court therefore declined to compel publication or regulate editorial page arrangement.


Cook v. Advertiser Co., 458 F.2d 1119 (5th Cir. 1972)