Katzenbach v. McClung

Case Overview

Ollie's Barbecue, a small family restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, refused to seat Black customers and argued that as a purely local business it was beyond the reach of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court unanimously disagreed, holding that Congress could ban racial discrimination in restaurants because such discrimination, in the aggregate, burdened interstate commerce. The case, a companion to Heart of Atlanta Motel, confirmed Congress's broad Commerce Clause power to enforce civil rights.