Edwards v. California
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| Edwards v. California | ||||||||
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 Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Reargued October 21, 1941 Decided November 24, 1941 |
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| Holding | ||||||||
| A state cannot prohibit indigent people from moving into it. | ||||||||
| Court membership | ||||||||
| Chief Justice: Harlan Fiske Stone Associate Justices: Owen Josephus Roberts, Hugo Black, Stanley Forman Reed, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Frank Murphy, James F. Byrnes, Robert H. Jackson |
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| Case opinions | ||||||||
| Majority by: Byrnes Joined by: Stone, Roberts, Reed, Frankfurter Concurrence by: Douglas Joined by: Black, Murphy Concurrence by: Jackson |
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Edwards v. People of State of California, was a United States Supreme Court case where a California law prohibiting the bringing of a non-resident "indigent person" into the state was struck down as unconstitutional.
The so-called, "anti-Okie" law made it a misdemeanor to bring into California, "any indegent person who is not a resident of the State, knowing him to be an indegent person." Edwards was a Californian who had driven to Texas and returned with his unemployed brother-in-law. He was tried, convicted and given a six-month suspended sentence. On appeal from the Superior Court of Yuba County, the Supreme Court unanimously vacated the verdict and declared the law unconstitutional, as violating the Constitution's Commerce Clause. Justice Byrnes wrote the majority opinion. In concurring opinions, Justices Douglas joined by Justices Black and Murphy, and Justice Jackson held that the law violated the Privileges or Immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
