In the 1962 case Lombard et al. v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of four African American students who had been convicted for trespassing after they refused to leave a "whites only" lunch counter in New Orleans, Louisiana. The students were participating in a sit-in protest against racial segregation at the time of their arrest and conviction under state law. However, the Supreme Court held that this application of state trespass laws violated their constitutional rights as it was used to enforce racial discrimination contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause which guarantees all citizens equal protection under law regardless of race or color.

In the dissenting opinion for Lombard et al. v. Louisiana, Justice Harlan argued that the majority's decision was based on a misinterpretation of precedent and an overreach of judicial power. He contended that the Court had no jurisdiction to intervene in local matters unless there was clear evidence of constitutional violation, which he believed did not exist in this case. According to him, it wasn't enough to prove racial discrimination; it also needed to be shown that state action supported such discrimination - something he felt hadn't been adequately demonstrated here. Furthermore, Harlan criticized his colleagues for relying too heavily on public sentiment rather than legal principles when making their ruling.