Bouie v. City of Columbia

Bouie (defendant), a Black college student, and a companion sat down at a drugstore lunch counter where they were unwelcome. A South Carolina statute made it a crime to enter another's land after being notified not to enter. Bouie had received no such notice before entering, but when asked to leave and refusing, he was arrested and convicted of criminal trespass. The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed by construing the statute for the first time to cover not just entering after notice, but also remaining after being told to leave — conduct the statute's text had never described. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.