Bailey v. Patterson (368 U.S. 346)/Opinion of the Court

This is a motion for an injunction to stay the prosecution of a number of criminal cases in the courts of Mississippi pending an appeal to this Court from the judgment of a three-judge Federal District Court. 199 F.Supp. 595. A federal injunction to stay state criminal proceedings is an extraordinary remedy. Cf. Douglas v. City of Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 63 S.Ct. 877, 87 L.Ed. 1324; Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714. In addition to the considerations normally attending an application for such relief, a serious question of standing is presented on this motion, in that it appears that the movants themselves are not being prosecuted in the Mississippi courts. On the record before us the motion for a stay injunction pending appeal is denied.

Motion denied.

Mr. Justice BLACK and Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER concur in the denial of a stay solely on the ground that the three movants are the themselves being prosecuted or threatened with prosecutions in Mississippi and they therefore reach no other questions.