The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1874-08-28
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
Its lTMcOM MstitutioMnlity Decided 10y
Judge Bradley, United states
supreme Court.

tice Bradley, of the United States Su-
preme Court, judicial and constitu-
:ional view OF this question which is
OF the utmost importance. In the de-
cision in question, delivered while
sitting in circuit at New Orleans, JUS
tice Bradley thus laid down the law:
"There can be- he said," no consti-
tutional legislation of Congress for
directly enforcing the privileges and
i'nmunities of citizens Of the United
States by original proceedings in the
only constitutional guarantee of such
privileges and immunities is that no
State shall pass any law to abridge
them"
This, it is manifest, covers the princi-
pie precisely of the Civil Rights bill.
passed by the Senate at its last session,
although no such act was before the
Court. 1t is tantamount to holding
that any law passed by Congress for
directly enforcing the principles and
inmunities of citizens {except as re-
CARDS suttrage) in the Courts of the
UnitedStatcs, would be,,unconstitutional
and void. The position may appear
startling to many readers. 1t has been
generally, and perhaps very loosely,
taken for granted that the \INth and
XVIII Amendments to the Constitution
invite Congress with plenary power to
leSiSlate as to all questions connected
with the civil rights and privileges of
the colored race. But Il careful reading
Of these amendments will convince any
one that, so far as they are concerned,
Congress is Invested with no such
power. The clause declaring that Con-
greSS shall have power to enforce by
proper legislation the provisions Of each
of those amendments, applies only to
the provisions contained in the amend
ments themselves.
What are these provisions? In the
first place the NV the Amendment sets
out with declaring all persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, to
be citizcns of the United States, and the
Stale wherein they reside. This
amendment further provides for the
apportionment.. of representation in
Congress, for the Acknowledgement OF
certain classes participating in the re-
be!iion from the right to vote or to hold
office, and for the perpetual validity of
the public debt OF the United States.
These arc the principles affirmed in the
\I\th Amendment, with the cXcrp-
ton Of the important prohibition to the
states contained in the first clause OF
the camcndmcnt. That prohibition is in
the following terms:
"No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall :,b-idgc the privileges
or inmunitics of citizens Of the United
State, nor shall ANY State deprive any
person olIife, liberty or property without
due process oflaw, nor deny persons
within its jurisdiction the equal protcc-
tion of the iaw.'
Here, it will be observed, there is no
comforting of power upon Congress to
mako laws, enforcing the privileges or
immunltics of citizcns, but only IL pro-
hibition Of the exercise of any power
abridging the privileges by the several
States.
The other amendment, knownas the
NNth, simply prov idcs 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 ac-
count of race, color or previous condi-
ton of servitutle. Here, also, there is
nothing whatever about civil rights
and privileges of the nature of those
attempted to be enforced by the Civil
Rights bill. We shall look in vain in
any Of the newly adopted amendments
to the Constitution for any grant of
power to Cong ress to lcgislatc for en-
forcingn negro equality in public schools,
churches, hotels, travelling gconvcyanccs
and places of amusement.
/ such legislation is passed by Con-
gress, the power to enact it must clearly
be derived from some other parts of
the Constitution than the amendments
engraftcd upon it since the war.
In this view Of the case the opinion
of Mr.. Justice Bradley, pronounced as
it is by a Republican Judge, appointed
by President Grant in the palmicst
days of Republican political asccnden-
cy, is one whose importance can hardly
be overratcd. Itappears to foreshadow
very clearly what the probable decision
of our ultimate judicial tribunal might
be in case Il stringent Civil Rights bill
were to become Il law, and were at
tempted to be enforced throughout the
country. There is no reason for sup
posing that Mr.. Justice Brady is any
more conservative than the majority of
his brethren upon the bench of the Su-
preme Court. He was wei! known and
recognized as a pronounced Republican
for years before his appointmcnttoth to that
high station. And this decision brings
into new prominence the fact that the
.,f g,