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''Breedlove v. Suttles'', 302 U.S. 277 (1937), is an overturned United States Supreme Court decision which upheld the
Associate Justice
constitutionality
Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
of requiring the payment of a poll tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources.
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
in order to vote in state elections.
Background
At the relevant time, Georgia imposed a poll tax of $1.00 per year, levied generally on all inhabitants. The statute exempted from the tax all persons under 21 or over 60 years of age, and all females who do not register for voting. Under the state constitution, the tax must be paid by the person liable, together with arrears, before he can be registered for voting. Nolan Breedlove, a white male, 28 years of age, declined to pay the tax, and was not allowed to register to vote. He filed a lawsuit challenging the Georgia law under the Fourteenth (both theEqual Protection Clause
The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
and the Privileges and Immunities Clause
The Privileges and Immunities Clause (U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1, also known as the Comity Clause) prevents a state from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner. Additionally, a right of interstate t ...
) and the Nineteenth amendments. T. Earl Suttles was named defendant in the case in his official capacity as tax collector of Fulton County, Georgia
Fulton County is located in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,066,710, making it the state's most-populous county and its only one with over one million inhabi ...
.
Opinion of the Court
Associate Justice Pierce Butler Pierce or Piers Butler may refer to:
*Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond (c. 1467 – 26 August 1539), Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland
*Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye (1652–1740), Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland
*Pi ...
delivered the opinion of the court, which unanimously upheld the Georgia law.
With respect to the differential treatment of men and women under the law, the court held that differences between women and men allowed for special consideration to be given to women:
With respect to the age discrimination
Ageism, also spelled agism, is discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Butler def ...
claim, the court held that the upper age limit to the tax was similar to exemptions by age given for military or jury service.
With respect to the Nineteenth Amendment, which states that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex", the court dismissed the notion that the purpose of the tax was "to deny or abridge the right of men to vote on account of their sex", and denied the claim as a result.
Subsequent developments
Georgia abolished its poll tax in 1945. This decision remained precedent until 1966, when the Supreme Court reversed it in a 6–3 decision in ''Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections
''Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections'', 383 U.S. 663 (1966), was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. In the late 19th and ea ...
.'' Two years earlier, the 24th Amendment had been ratified, prohibiting the use of the poll tax (or any other tax) as a precondition for voting in federal elections. Justice Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...
, who participated both in the Breedlove decision and in the Harper decision, dissented from the Harper decision declaring the poll tax to be unconstitutional.
See also
*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 302
This is a list of cases reported in volume 302 of '' United States Reports'', decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1937 and 1938.
Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 302 U.S.
The Supreme Court is establ ...
References
External links
* * {{US14thAmendment, equalprotection Overruled United States Supreme Court decisions History of voting rights in the United States United States equal protection case law United States Fourteenth Amendment case law United States Nineteenth Amendment case law United States Supreme Court cases 1937 in United States case law African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement Civil rights movement case law Georgia (U.S. state) elections African-American history of Georgia (U.S. state) Fulton County, Georgia United States Supreme Court cases of the Hughes Court