In the case of Gober et al. v. City of Birmingham, 1962, a group of African American citizens challenged the city's racial segregation laws that prohibited them from playing golf on public courses except for two days per week. The plaintiffs argued that this was a violation of their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law and due process. However, both lower courts ruled in favor of Birmingham, stating that as long as there were separate but equal facilities provided for different races (in line with Plessy v Ferguson), it did not violate constitutional rights. The Supreme Court reversed these decisions without hearing oral arguments or issuing an opinion - a procedure known as summary reversal - indicating they believed the lower courts' rulings were clearly incorrect based on existing legal precedents such as Brown v Board Education which had already declared "separate but equal" unconstitutional in education context five years earlier.

In the dissenting opinion for Gober et al. v. City of Birmingham, Justice Hugo Black disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold a city ordinance that allowed officials to deny parade permits based on potential threats to public safety and order. He argued that this gave too much power to local authorities, allowing them potentially suppress free speech rights protected by the First Amendment under the guise of maintaining peace and order. Furthermore, he contended that it was not clear whether there were less restrictive alternatives available which could have achieved similar results without infringing upon constitutional rights as heavily as this ordinance did.