apr 15, 1873 - Bradwell v. Illinois

Description:

OVERVIEW:
Myra Bradwell applied for a license to practice law in the state of Illinois. The Illinois Supreme Court denied her application because she was a woman and she was a married. At the time, married women were not allowed to make binding contract without their husband’s consent. This would disable her from performing as a lawyer. She appealed it to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that her right to practice law was protected by the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th amendment.

FIRAC:
Facts:
Myra Bradwell claimed her right to a license to practice law in her state of Illinois by benefit of her status as a citizen of the United States. She argued that she had the right because of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th amendment. The judges of the Illinois Supreme Court denied her application, and the Supreme Court upheld this decision.
Issue:
Is the right to practice a profession guaranteed by the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th amendment?
Rationale:
No, the Privileges and Immunities clause does not apply here as Bradwell was a citizen of the State enforcing the law complained of. States have the authority to regulate the practice of law, including denial of licenses to women on the basis of sex.
Analysis:
Myra Bradwell was declined the right to practice law not because of the Privileges or Immunities Clause, but just because she was a woman. In the 1800s, women had no rights and were seen less than a man. Society believed a women's only job was to be a good mother and wife, while a man should be in charge of being in a profession. This idea went on and is still prevalent today. Myra Bradwell had all the training and knowledge to be granted a license to practice, yet was discriminated based on her sex. She was granted a right to practice law, and did become the first woman to be a lawyer but that was granted years later.
Conclusion:
In an 8-1 ruling, The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Illinois Court, saying that the Privileges and Immunities Clause did not include the right to practice a profession. In reality, the court denied her application because they believed it would destroy femininity, cause family arguments, and women we’re not fit to be lawyers. The judges citied that the “respective spheres of man and woman” and “that it belonged to men to make, apply, and execute the laws” with women only performing duties of motherhood and being a wife.

HISTORY:
The United States Courts have in the 19th century been influenced by the impact of “romantic paternalism” alongside “coverture rules” in making decisions that involved women’s rights. The concept of making such decisions also found their way into the legislative system of the 20th century and affected the major Supreme Court rulings.

BIOGRAPHY:
Myra Bradwell was born on February 12, 1831. She grew up in Portage, New York. She was educated in schools, after a few years as a schoolteacher she married james B. Bradwell, a law student. They moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where they taught and operated their own private school. In 1854, they returned to Illinois and in 1855, James was admitted to the bar. In 1868, Myra established the first weekly edition of the Chicago Legal News, where she was the editorial and business manager. It became the most important legal publication in western United States. In 1869, she helped organize Chicago’s first woman suffrage convention, and her and James were active in the founding of the American Woman Suffrage Association in Cleveland. That same year, Myra passed the exam and applied to the Illinois Supreme Court and admission for the state bar. She was denied based on the fact that she was a woman. Bradwell continued supporting woman suffrage, railroad regulation, improved court systems, zoning laws and other important reforms. In 1890, the Illinois Supreme Court took up her 1869 application again and admitted her to the bar, and in March 1892 she was allowed to practice before the Supreme Court. In 1884, she passed due to cancer, only two years after she was allowed to practice law in the Illinois and Supreme Court. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She was a lawyer, a publisher, a reformer and a teacher. Bradwell is known for being a pioneer woman lawyer and the first woman in the United States to practice law and the first woman member of the Illinois Bar Association. Bradwell is the first woman member of the Illinois Press Association and a founding member of the Illinois Woman's Press Association, which is the oldest organization of professional women writers.

RELATED CASES:
Slaughterhouse Case:
A case going on at the same time as Bradwell v. Illinois was the Slaughterhouse Cases. In the Slaughterhouse Cases, the Louisiana state legislature granted a monopoly to the New Orleans slaughtering business to a single corporation. A group of butchers who were apart of the Butchers’ Benevolent Association argued that they would lose their right to practice trade and earn a livelihood if this monopoly was allowed. They also said that the monopoly cut their privileges and immunities of the 14th amendment, as U.S. citizens. This was denied in state court, so they went to the Supreme Court. By a 5-to-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled against the slaughterhouse. They declared that the 14th amendment has only one “purpose” to protect newly emancipated African-Americans. Also, that the 14th amendment protects privileges or immunities of citizenship in the United States, not privileges and immunities of citizenship of a state.

Minor v. Happersett:
Another similar case as Bradwell v. Illinois, was Minor v. Happersett. In this case, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution didn’t grant anyone, in this case, a female citizen of the state of Missouri, a right to vote even when state law granted the right to vote to a certain class of citizens. The ruling was based on an interpretation of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th amendment. They accepted that she was a citizen, but it held that the protected privileges of citizenship didn’t include the right to vote.

Reed v. Reed:
Sally and Cecil Reed, a married couple who had been separated, were fighting over who should be the administrator of the estate of their son who had passed away. The Idaho Code stated that "males must be preferred over females." Sally Reed's lawyer argued that the Fourteenth Amendment forbids discrimination based on gender. The Supreme Court ruled that the administrators cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes.

United States v. Virginia:
An important Supreme Court case that struck down the male-only admission of Virginia Military Institute.

Frontiero v. Richardson:
Sharron Frontiero, a lieutenant in the United States Air Force, wanted dependent's allowance for her husband. Federal law provided that the wives of members of the military automatically became dependents; husbands of female members of the military. Yet, men were not accepted as dependents unless they were dependent on their wives for over one-half of their support. Frontiero's request for dependent status for her husband was turned down. The Supreme Court ruled that the benefits given by the U.S. military to the family of service members can’t be distributed differently because of gender.

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