United States v. Harris

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UNITED STATES V. HARRIS

UNITED STATES V. HARRIS, 106 U.S. 629 (1883), a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court held unconstitutional the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act provision that penalized all conspiracies to deprive any person equal protection of the laws. The act was broader than the Fourteenth Amendment warranted, explained Justice William B. Woods, and neither the Fourteenth Amendment nor the Fifteenth Amendment authorized Congress to legislate directly upon the acts of private persons, irrespective of state civil rights efforts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Avins, Alfred. "The Ku Klux Act of 1871." St. Louis University Law Journal 11 (1967): 331–374.

Hyman, Harold M. A More Perfect Union: The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the Constitution. New York: Knopf, 1973.

Ransom E.NobleJr./a. r.

See alsoAfrican Americans ; Civil Rights and Liberties ; Equal Protection of the Law ; Force Acts ; Ku Klux Klan ; Reconstruction .

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