Breedlove v. Suttles
Breedlove v. Suttles was a significant Supreme Court case that addressed the constitutionality of poll taxes as a requirement for voter registration in Georgia. The law imposed a one-dollar annual poll tax on individuals aged twenty-one to sixty, while exempting certain groups like the blind and unregistered women. A white male citizen challenged this law, arguing that it constituted discrimination against voters, violating the Fourteenth and Nineteenth Amendments. In a unanimous decision, the Court upheld the law, with Justice Pierce Butler stating that the exemptions were justifiable based on the unique circumstances of the affected groups. The Court also highlighted that poll taxes had historically been accepted in American electoral practices. However, the ruling in Breedlove v. Suttles was later overturned by the 1966 case Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, which deemed poll taxes unconstitutional. This evolution in legal interpretation reflects ongoing debates about voting rights and access in the United States.
Breedlove v. Suttles
Date: December 6, 1937
Citation: 302 U.S. 277
Issue: Poll tax
Significance: The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a state’s poll tax that did not treat all people equally.
A Georgia law levied a poll tax of one dollar per year on all people between the ages of twenty-one and sixty, except for the blind and women who had not registered to vote. Payment of the tax was a prerequisite for voter registration. A white male citizen asserted that the law was an invidious discrimination, contrary to the principles of the Fourteenth and Nineteenth Amendments. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected the claim. In the opinion for the Court, Justice Pierce Butler declared that the exclusions from tax liability were reasonable in view of the special circumstances of the exempted groups. Butler also noted that the use of poll taxes as a condition for voting had long been accepted in U.S. traditions. The Breedlove decision was overturned in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966).
