Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/174/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 08:54:13+00:00

Document:
l. A city ordinance is a law of a state within the meaning of Jud.Code, § 237. P. 260 U. S. 176.
2. It is the duty of this Court to decline jurisdiction whenever it appears that the constitutional question upon which jurisdiction depends was not, at the time of granting the writ, a substantial question. P. 260 U. S. 176.
3. City ordinances making vaccination a condition to attendance at public or private schools and vesting broad discretion in health authorities to determine when and under what circumstances the requirement shall be enforced are consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment, and, in view of prior decisions, a contrary contention presents no substantial constitutional question. P. 260 U. S. 176.
4. The question whether city officials have administered a valid ordinance in such a way as to deny the plaintiff the equal protection of the laws is not one of those upon which the judgment of a state court may be brought here by writ of error. P. 260 U. S. 177.
that, in the exercise of the police power, reasonable classification may be freely applied, and that regulation is not violative of the equal protection clause merely because it is not all-embracing. Adams v. Milwaukee, 228 U. S. 572; Miller v. Wilson, 236 U. S. 373, 236 U. S. 384. In view of these decisions, we find in the record no question as to the validity of the ordinance sufficiently substantial to support the writ of error. Unlike Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, these ordinances confer not arbitrary power, but only that broad discretion required for the protection of the public health.
The bill contains also averments to the effect that, in administering the ordinance, the official have discriminated against the plaintiff in such a way as to deny to her equal protection of the laws. These averments do present a substantial constitutional question. Neal v. Delaware, 103 U. S. 370. But the question is not of that character which entitles a litigant to a review by this Court on writ of error. The question does not go to the validity of the ordinance, nor does it go to the validity of the authority of the officials. Compare United States v. Taft, 203 U. S. 461; Champion Lumber Co. v. Fisher, 227 U. S. 445; Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. Co. v. Clarksdale, 257 U. S. 10. This charge is of an unconstitutional exercise of authority under an ordinance which is valid. Compare Stadelman v. Miner, 246 U. S. 544. Unless a case is otherwise properly here on writ of error, questions of that character can be reviewed by this Court only on petition for a writ of certiorari.

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