6 Dez 1937 Jahr - Breedlove v. Suttles

Beschreibung:

A United States Supreme Court decision which upheld the constitutionality of requiring the payment of a poll tax in order to vote in state elections.

Since 1877, 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 women. Under the state constitution, the tax must be paid by the person liable 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 the Equal Protection Clause and the Privileges and Immunities Clause) and the Nineteenth Amendment. T. Earl Suttles was named the defendant in the case in his official capacity as tax collector of Fulton County, Georgia.

Associate Justice Pierce Butler 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 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.


Overturned by
Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections

Zugefügt zum Band der Zeit:

Datum: