## Facts

- Jesse Turner, a Black patron, was refused nonsegregated service in the main dining room of the Memphis Municipal Airport restaurant.
- The restaurant was operated by a private company (Dobbs Houses, Inc.) under a lease from the City of Memphis, which owned the airport.
- Turner sued on behalf of himself and similarly situated Black patrons, seeking injunctive relief against racially segregated service.
- Turner alleged defendants acted under color of state law and sought relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 with jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3).
- Defendants relied on Tennessee statutes authorizing restaurant regulation and a state administrative rule stating restaurants serving both white and Black patrons “should be arranged” to segregate races.
- The lease required the premises be used only for lawful purposes and not in violation of Tennessee law; defendants claimed desegregation would violate state requirements and risk lease consequences.
- A three-judge district court was convened and abstained from reaching the merits, directing Turner to seek state-court interpretation of the cited Tennessee provisions.
- Turner sought review both in the court of appeals and directly in the Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether a three-judge district court was required to address the asserted unconstitutionality of state provisions used to justify segregation in a municipally connected facility.
2. Whether the district court properly abstained pending state-court interpretation of the Tennessee statutes and regulation.
3. Whether federal courts should order immediate injunctive relief against segregation in a municipally leased airport restaurant.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court held that a three-judge court was not required because the unconstitutionality of state-imposed segregation in publicly connected facilities was settled and not a substantial, open constitutional question.
- The Court held abstention was improper and that the federal court should not delay adjudication awaiting state-court proceedings.
- The Court treated the filing as a petition for certiorari before judgment, granted it, vacated the district court’s abstention order, and remanded with directions to grant appropriate injunctive relief against the discrimination.

## Legal Principles

- When the invalidity of state-imposed racial segregation in publicly connected facilities is settled, the constitutional issue is not “substantial” for purposes of requiring a three-judge court under 28 U.S.C. § 2281.
- Federal abstention is inappropriate where no plausible state-law construction could avoid the federal constitutional violation and delay would impede enforcement of established federal rights.
- Racial segregation in a privately operated restaurant situated in a municipal airport and operating under a municipal lease may be treated as state action subject to the Fourteenth Amendment and enforceable through § 1983.

## Conclusion

The Court required prompt federal injunctive relief against racially segregated service in a municipally leased airport restaurant, rejecting both the need for a three-judge court and the district court’s abstention-based delay.


Turner v. City of Memphis, 369 U.S. 350 (1962)