Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections

Argued January 25 – 26, 1966
Decided March 24, 1966


Full case name:	Annie E. Harper, et al. v. Virginia Board of Elections, et al.

Citations:	383 U.S. 663; 86 S. Ct. 1079; 16 L. Ed. 2d 169; 1966 U.S. LEXIS 2905

Prior history:	Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Holding

A State's conditioning of the right to vote on the payment of a fee or tax violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Earl Warren
Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas

Case opinions

Majority by: Douglas
Joined by: Warren, Clark, Brennan, White, Fortas
Dissent by: Black
Dissent by: Harlan
Joined by: Stewart

Laws applied

U.S. Const. amend. XIV

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966), was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. The case was filed by Virginia resident Annie E. Harper. After being dismissed by a district court, the case went to the United States Supreme Court. In a 6-3 vote, the Court ruled in favor of Ms. Harper. The Court noted that “a state violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard. Voter qualifications have no relation to wealth.”

This ruling reversed a prior decision by the Court, Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277 (1937), which supported poll taxes.