Civil Rights Cases

The Civil Rights Cases
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided 15 October, 1883
Full case name	United States v. Stanley; United States v. Ryan; United States v. Nichols; United States v. Singleton; Robinson et ux. v. Memphis & Charleston R.R. Co.
Citations	109 U.S. 3 (more) 3 S. Ct. 18; 27 L. Ed. 835
Holding
Neither the Thirteenth nor Fourteenth Amendments empower Congress to safeguard blacks against the actions of private individuals. To decide otherwise would afford blacks a special status under the law that whites did not enjoy.[1]
Court membership
Chief Justice Morrison Waite Associate Justices Samuel F. Miller · Stephen J. Field Joseph P. Bradley · John M. Harlan William B. Woods · T. Stanley Matthews Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford
Case opinions
Majority	Bradley, joined by Waite, Miller, Field, Woods, Matthews, Gray, Blatchford
Dissent	Harlan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. XIII, XIV; Civil Rights Act of 1875

The Civil Rights Cases 109 U.S. 3 (1883), were a group of five similar cases consolidated into one issue for the United States Supreme Court to review.^[2] The Court held that Congress lacked the constitutional authority under the Fourteenth Amendment to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations, rather than state and local governments.^[3]

The Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which provided that "all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude" was unconstitutional.^[3]

1. ↑ Cite error: The named reference FOLD20131023 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
2. ↑ "Civil Rights Cases". The Free Dictionary/Farlex. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "109 U.S. 3 Civil Rights Cases ()". Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School. Retrieved 24 March 2016.