“Individual invasion of individual rights is not the subject-matter of the [Fourteenth] Amendment. It has a deeper and broader scope. It nullifies and makes void all State legislation, and State action of every kind, which impairs the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, or which injures them in life, liberty or property without due process of law, or which denies to any of them the equal protection of the laws.”
— Supreme Court of the United States, majority opinion in the Civil Rights Cases (1883)
Which of the following best describes the historical impact of the Supreme Court ruling excerpted above?
- AIt resulted in the immediate deployment of federal troops to enforce civil rights in Southern public accommodations.
- BIt nullified the citizenship status granted to African Americans by the Fourteenth Amendment.
- It limited the federal government's authority to protect African Americans from private acts of discrimination, clearing the way for widespread segregation.Cevap
- DIt established federal regulatory agencies to police private businesses and ensure equal hiring practices.
Cevap
The ruling limited the federal government's authority to protect African Americans from private acts of discrimination, clearing the way for widespread segregation.
The correct option is correct because the Civil Rights Cases (1883) established the 'state action doctrine,' declaring that the Fourteenth Amendment only prevented discriminatory actions by state governments, not by private individuals or entities. This decision struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which had outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodations, and legally enabled the spread of private segregation and the emergence of Jim Crow laws across the South.
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Anahtar Kavram
The legal foundation of Jim Crow laws and segregation through the restriction of Fourteenth Amendment protections.