US Supreme Court Ruling 1883, 'Discrimination is perfectly legal'

Rushcourt71

"In late 1883, the US Supreme Court would rule that race discrimination in public accommodations was perfectly legal, and Congress had no power to pass legislation requiring equal treatment...

The same year 'the US Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.

The Court held that the Act, which had guaranteed that everyone, regardless of race, was entitled to equal accommodations and privileges in public places such as inns, hotels, public transportation  such as railroad cars, and theatres and other places of recreation, was not consistent with the US Congress's powers under the 13th or 14th amendments, and that Congress had exceeded the scope of its power.

The Court said it was no infringement of these amendments to refuse to any person the equal accommodations and privileges of an inn, place of public entertainment, or the like, and to do so was not a badge of slavery or involuntary servitude implying subjugation.

The US Congress did not pass another Civil Rights Law until 1957. Essentially at the time, separation of the races was the legal and social norm, not the exception."


(Source: 'In the Ring with John L. Sullivan' by Adam Pollack, 2011, P88 and 97)