1883 United States Supreme Court case
| United States v. Harris |
|---|
 |
|
| Full case name | United States v. R. G. Harris, et al. |
|---|
| Citations | 106 U.S. 629 (more) |
|---|
|
| Local governments, not the federal government, have the power to penalize crimes such as assault and murder. |
|
- Chief Justice
- Morrison Waite
- Associate Justices
- Samuel F. Miller · Stephen J. Field
Joseph P. Bradley · John M. Harlan
William B. Woods · Stanley Matthews
Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford
|
|
| Majority | Woods, joined by Waite, Miller, Field, Bradley, Mathews, Gray, Blatchford |
|---|
| Dissent | Harlan (on the question of jurisdiction; no opinion on the merits) |
|---|
|
U.S. Const. Amend. XIV
Section 2 of the Third Enforcement Act |
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629 (1883), or the Ku Klux Case, was a case in which the US Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to penalize crimes such as assault and murder in most circumstances.[1] The Court declared that only state governments have the power to penalize those crimes.
In the specific case, four men were removed from a Crockett County, Tennessee, jail by a group led by Sheriff R. G. Harris and 19 others. The four men were beaten, and one was killed. A deputy sheriff tried to prevent the act but failed.
Section 2 of the Force Act of 1871 was declared unconstitutional on the theory that an Act to enforce the Equal Protection Clause applied only to state actions, not individuals' actions.
See also
References
Further reading
External links
