Source: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_v._Williams_(341_U.S._70)/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2014-11-26 21:47:19
Document Index: 525404541

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 241', '§ 19', '§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 6', '§ 2', '§ 4', '§ 17', '§ 242']

United States v. Williams (341 U.S. 70)/Opinion of the Court - Wikisource, the free online library
United States v. Williams (341 U.S. 70)/Opinion of the Court
< United States v. Williams (341 U.S. 70)
United States v. Williams (341 U.S. 70)
906520United States v. Williams (341 U.S. 70) — Opinion of the Court
Argued: Jan. 8, 1951. --- Decided: April 23, 1951
The alternative grounds for the decision of the Court of Appeals need not be considered, for we agree that § 241 (to use the current designation for what was § 19 of the Criminal Code) does not reach the conduct laid as an offense in the prosecution here. This is not because we deny the power of Congress to enforce by appropriate criminal sanction every right guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; nor is it because we fully accept the course of reasoning of the court below. We base our decision on the history of § 241, its text and context, the statutory framework in which it stands, its practical and judicial application-controlling elements in construing a federal criminal provision that affects the wise adjustment between State responsibility and national control of essentially local affairs. The elements all converge in one direction. They lead us to hold that § 241 only covers conduct which interferes with rights arising from the substantive powers of the Federal Government.
What is now known as § 241 originated as § 6 of the Act of May 31, 1870, 16 Stat. 140. That statute was entitled 'An Act to enforce the Right of Citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other Purposes.' In furtherance of its chief end of assuring the right of Negroes to vote, it provided in §§ 2 and 3 that it should be a misdemeanor for any 'person or officer' wrongfully to fail in a duty imposed on him by State law to perform or permit performance of acts necessary to registering or voting. In § 4 interference with elections by private persons was made a similar offense. In the course of passage through Congress several sections were added which had a larger purpose. One of them, § 17, was derived from the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14 Stat. 27, and was designed to 'secure to all persons the equal protection of the laws.' [1] It imposed imprisonment up to one year and a fine up to one thousand dollars on 'any person who, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of any right secured or protected by the last preceding section of this act, or to different punishment, pains, or penalties on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of citizens * * *.' 16 Stat. 140, 144. Through successive revisions it has become § 242, the application of which to the facts before us is considered in No. 365, 341 U.S. 97, 71 S.Ct. 576, infra.
Another of the broader provisions is the section which is our immediate concern. This was its original form: 'Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That if two or more persons shall band or conspire together, or go in disguise upon the public highway, or upon the premises of another, with intent to violate any provision of this act, or to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise and enjoyment of any right or privi