''City of New Orleans v. Dukes'', 427 U.S. 297 (1976), was a 1976
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision.
Background
The original case involved a 1972
ordinance banning all
pushcart food vendors in the
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...
except those who had continuously operated there for eight or more years. Two vendors had done so for twenty years or more and qualified under the
grandfather clause
A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...
. Appellee Dukes had operated a pushcart for only two years and challenged the ordinance, winning in the lower courts.
The decision
The City of New Orleans ordinance, authorized under state 'home rule' law, authorized under the
Tenth Amendment State Police powers to protect the health, safety, welfare, and morals of its citizens - vs- Dukes'
Fourteenth Amendment right of equal protection of the law:
The question for the court was whether the city of New Orleans' ordinance violated the
equal protection
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 equa ...
clause of the 14th Amendment?
''
Per Curiam
In law, a ''per curiam'' decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least, a majority of the court) acting collectively (and typically, though not ...
'': No. Case was Reversed.
When local economic regulation is challenged solely as violating the Equal Protection Clause, this Court consistently defers to legislative determinations as to the desirability of particular statutory discriminations. Unless a classification trammels fundamental personal rights or is drawn upon inherently suspect distinctions such as race, religion, or alienage . . . any classifications other than these must only be rationally related to a legitimate state interest. . .States are accorded a wide latitude in the regulation of their local economies. . .
In short, the judiciary may not sit as a super legislature to judge the wisdom or desirability of legislative policy determinations made in areas that neither affect fundamental rights nor proceed along suspect lines.
ew OrleansClassification rationally furthers the purpose which hecity had identified as its objective in enacting the provision, that is, as a means 'to preserve the appearance and custom valued by the Quarter's residents and attractive to tourists.'
Further reading
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External links
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{{US14thAmendment
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
United States Supreme Court decisions that overrule a prior Supreme Court decision
United States equal protection case law
1972 in United States case law