Heart of Atlanta v. United States
A motel in Atlanta, Georgia was an owner that would only accommodate white guests, Negros were not allowed to rent a room. The court stepped in onto this case when the motel was sued because blacks who were interstate traveling could not stay there. Congress in 1964 pass Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, under the Commerce Clause Congress had the authority to step in and intervene in business when commerce was affected. The Constitutional question was did Congress Constitutionally have the power to deprive motels such as Heart of Atlanta to choose their own customer or did that exceed their powers under the Commerce Clause in Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
The motel was regularly advertised and had over 50 billboards all along the highway. From this you can imply that the motel is trying to get travelers to stay at the motel. The Motel also had easy access to interstate highways 75 and 85 and state highways 23 and 41. Justice Clark stated “…the power of Congress to promote interstate commerce also includes the power to regulate the local incidents thereof, including local activities in both the States of origin and destination, which might have a substantial and harmful effect upon that commerce. One need only examine the evidence which we have discussed above to see that Congress may—as it has—prohibit racial discrimination by motels serving travelers, however 'local' their operations may appear.” By not allowing blacks to stay at the motel commerce was being effected, therefore congress had the power to step in because discrimination was taking place. Justice Black said that both Olie's Barbecue, a restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama and The Heart of Atlanta hotel “Both claimed that Congress had exceeded its constitutional powers in attempting to compel them to use their privately owned businesses to serve customers whom they did not want to serve.” They believed that since they were privately owned...