Civil Rights Cases Strike Down 1875 Act, Legitimizing Jim Crow

The Supreme Court declares the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional in an 8-1 decision, ruling that the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments do not empower Congress to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals—thereby legitimizing the Jim Crow system of racial segregation that will persist for 80 years. The consolidated cases involve five incidents of discrimination against Black Americans: two at theaters, two at hotels, and one on transit. Justice Joseph P. Bradley writes that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause prohibits discrimination by state and local government but does not give federal government power to prohibit discrimination by private individuals and organizations. The Court also holds the Thirteenth Amendment was meant to eliminate “the badge of slavery” but not to prohibit racial discrimination in public accommodations.

The decision destroys the last major federal civil rights law of the Reconstruction era. The Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed by President Grant, was designed to “protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights,” providing for equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibiting exclusion from jury service. By declaring it unconstitutional, the Court puts an end to Radical Republican attempts to ensure civil rights for Black Americans and ushers in widespread segregation in housing, employment, and public life that confines Black Americans to second-class citizenship. Justice John Marshall Harlan provides the lone dissent, pointing out the Court has “eviscerated the Fourteenth Amendment of its meaning” and noting the bias in upholding Fugitive Slave Acts before the war while now refusing comparable powers for civil rights enforcement.

The practical consequences prove catastrophic and permanent. The Reconstruction era officially ends with the 1876 election resolution, and the 1875 Act was the last federal civil rights law enacted until the Civil Rights Act of 1957—82 years later. No federal civil rights legislation with real enforcement power passes until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both citing the Commerce Clause rather than the Fourteenth Amendment as authority. The 1964 Heart of Atlanta Motel decision finally allows Congress to prohibit racial discrimination by private actors under Commerce Clause power—81 years after the Civil Rights Cases. The decision demonstrates how Supreme Court institutional capture can destroy civil rights protections for generations, requiring nearly a century of activism to overturn its effects.