Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections

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Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 25 – 26, 1966 Decided March 24, 1966
Full case name: Annie E. Harper, et al. v. Virginia Board of Elections, et al. Citations: 383 U.S. 663; 86 S. Ct. 1079; 16 L. Ed. 2d 169; 1966 U.S. LEXIS 2905 Prior history: Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Holding
A State's conditioning of the right to vote on the payment of a fee or tax violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Court membership
Chief Justice: Earl Warren Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas
Case opinions
Majority by: Douglas Joined by: Warren, Clark, Brennan, White, Fortas Dissent by: Harlan Dissent by: Black and Stewart
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV

Harper v. Virginia 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. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited poll taxes in federal elections; the Supreme Court extended this prohibition to state elections.

Contents 1 Background 2 The Decision 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Background

The case was filed by Virginia resident Annie E. Harper, who was unable to register without having to pay a poll tax. She brought the suit on behalf of other poor residents and herself. After being dismissed by a U.S. district court, the case went to the United States Supreme Court.

[edit] The Decision

In a 3-6 vote, the Court ruled in favor of Ms. Harper. The Court noted that “a state violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard. Voter qualifications have no relation to wealth.”

This ruling reversed a prior decision by the Court, Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277 (1937), which upheld the state's ability to impose poll taxes.

[edit] See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 383

[edit] External links

• The Voting Rights Act of 1965, USDOJ.gov
• "Not the Rich, More Than the Poor: Poverty, Race, and Campaign Finance Reform" by John C. Bonifaz

v • d • e African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Timeline) Topics and events Albany Movement · Birmingham campaign · Black Power · Brown v. Board of Education · Civil Rights Act of 1964 · Civil Rights Act of 1968 · Freedom Riders · Freedom Summer · Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections · Little Rock Nine · March on Washington · Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party · Montgomery Bus Boycott · Poor People's Campaign · Selma to Montgomery marches · Twenty-fourth Amendment · Voting Rights Act of 1965 Activists Ralph Abernathy · Victoria Gray Adams · Ella Baker · Stokely Carmichael · Shirley Chisholm · Vernon Dahmer · Annie Devine · Medgar Evers · James Farmer · James Forman · Fannie Lou Hamer · Dorothy Height · T. R. M. Howard · Jesse Jackson · Clyde Kennard · Coretta Scott King · Martin Luther King, Jr. · John Lewis · Viola Liuzzo · Malcolm X · Bob Moses · Rosa Parks · A. Philip Randolph · Bayard Rustin · Modjeska Monteith Simkins · Fred Shuttlesworth · Roy Wilkins · Whitney Young Activist groups Congress of Racial Equality · Leadership Conference on Civil Rights · NAACP · Operation Breadbasket · SCLC · SNCC · National Council of Negro Women · National Urban League · Women's Political Council