Muhammad Ali

How do you stand now with the possibility of going to jail? Oh, I don't know. I'm just waiting any day now. Do you think of that? (audience laughing) Whenever people want to really make progress, some have to sacrifice a lot. And I'd like to say, white America right now spending $30 million dollars a day and Asian, black and white boys are dying unjustly for nothing. So, why should I worry about going to little old jail to free my poor people who's been catching it over here for 400 years? (audience clapping) -

Narrator

On April 19th, 1971, Chauncey Eskridge, a lawyer who had previously represented Martin Luther King, appeared before the Supreme Court on behalf of Muhammad Ali, arguing that his conviction for refusing the draft should be overturned. The justices had not initially planned to hear the case. They were again, predisposed to just deny it because there didn't seem to be any big legal issue here. But Justice Brennan made an impassioned plea that they should at least hear the case because the American people wouldn't understand why somebody who was advancing a claim like this, who had the stature and importance of Muhammad Ali, hadn't had a day in court. And so the court agreed to hear the case, fully expecting that they were probably going to affirm the conviction. -

Narrator

"The petitioner just doesn't want to fight the white man's war, and I can understand that." Solicitor General Erwin Griswold told the Supreme Court, on behalf of the U.S. government. "But that's not the same as being a pacifist." Ali's opposition to fighting, argued his lawyer, wasn't racial or political, but rooted in sincere religious belief. Thurgood Marshall cannot vote because he had worked for the Justice Department when Ali was first charged. So he's got a recusal. So now we have an eight judge court. They sit down, they have their conference. They vote five to three. He goes to jail. -

Narrator

During the period while the Ali case was up at the Supreme Court the second time, I was a law clerk to one of the justices, to Justice Harlen. The Chief Justice chose Justice Harlan to write the opinion and they all expected he was going to write an opinion to affirm the conviction. -

Narrator

Tom Krattenmaker had been reading about the Nation of Islam, and believed that Ali's claim of religious opposition to fighting in wars was no different than the argument Jehovah's Witnesses had successfully presented to the court, in the 1950s. The law clerk of Justice Harlan goes in and says, "Listen, with all due respect Mr. Justice. I've got some stuff here about the Nation of Islam and what it believes. I thought once he got deeper into the documents and into the underlying materials in the case, he would find that Ali did in fact have a sincere objection to fighting all wars. What Ali said is, "I am a member of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam. It is part of our religious tenant that we will not fight any wars in which human life is being taken, unless I'm commanded to fight by Allah. And those views are a religiously based objection to participation in war in all forms. And one day Justice Harlan walked in and said, "You know, I've decided you guys are right." It's pretty unusual for justices to change their mind. In this case, it was quite a bombshell. No one expected it. Everyone on the court thought this conviction was going to be affirmed. -

Narrator

Chief Justice Warren Berger was livid, calling Harlan an apologist for the black Muslims. The vote, now split four-four, meant that Ali's conviction would be upheld, but the justices would publish no opinion. It would be as if they had never even taken the case. Then, another justice, Potter Stewart, discovered a procedural error by the Kentucky Appeals Board that he believed the court could use to overturn Ali's conviction without setting a precedent. We don't know what the State Appeal Board used as a reason for denying Ali conscientious objector status, because they gave no reasons, they just turned him down. And so that denied due process of law to this one person, Mohammad Ali. Once Justice Stewart latched on to this procedural point, he and his law clerks drafted it up and sent it around. And one by one justices started joining it. The final person to join was the Chief Justice. And so by the end, it was unanimous to reverse Ali's conviction. -

News Reporter

The court unanimously threw out the conviction of boxer Muhammad Ali or Cassius clay. -

Narrator

On June 28th, 1971, as Ali was leaving a corner store on the South side of Chicago, the shopkeeper heard the news and ran after him to let him know. Well I was on seven and eighth street on the south side and just bought me a orange in a grocery store and the grocery owner came out and grabbed me and hugged me with tears in his eyes, a little black fellow, who told me that you've just been vindicated and you free. Eight judges all voted in your favor and he just hugged me and squeezed me. -

Reporter

How do you feel about our system now? Well I don't know who'll be assassinated at night. I don't know who'll be enslaved or mistreated. I don't know who would be deprived of some other justice or equality. So I can't say nothing. All I can talk about is my case. And I'm thankful that the court's recognized my sincerity and my beliefs in this case. That was so beautiful. I cried. I was so happy. My brother faced the prison sentence if he was found guilty. He wasn't found guilty. They let him go. He was right. The Supreme Court said he's right, it was so beautiful. Are you sure there's a God? It was easy for me. It was easy, you know why? 'Cause this man was doing the right thing. Do the right thing in life, you're happy. People say, "Do what you think is right." Somebody asked me once in high school, "What do you think about the war in Vietnam and maybe going over there and fighting?" And I said, "Listen, I can't see any reason I'd be shooting these Vietnamese men and women. Why would I be doing that? Why would I go there? Why would I support that?" I thought it was my own thought. That shows how powerful Muhammad Ali is. It was a thought that I had gotten from him, but I didn't even know I got it from him. When he says, "No Vietcong ever called me nigger." I mean, somehow that got into my head, but not on purpose, not consciously. And that's a real leader. He influences you and you don't know what's happening.