Jones v. Mayer

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Jones v. Mayer

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued April 1 – 2, 1968
Decided June 17, 1968


Full case name:	Joseph Lee Jones et ux. v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. et al.

Citations:	392 U.S. 409; 88 S. Ct. 2186; 20 L. Ed. 2d 1189; 1968 U.S. LEXIS 2980; 1 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) P9832; 47 Ohio Op. 2d 43

Prior history:	Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Holding

The Court held that Congress could regulate the sale of private property in order to prevent racial discrimination.

Court membership

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

Case opinions

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

Laws applied

42 U.S.C. § 1982

Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968)^[1], is a United States Supreme Court case which held that Congress could regulate the sale of private property in order to prevent racial discrimination: "42 U.S.C. § 1982 bars all racial discrimination, private as well as public, in the sale or rental of property, and that the statute, thus construed, is a valid exercise of the power of Congress to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment."

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 (passed by Congress over the veto of Andrew Johnson) provided the basis for this decision as embodied by 42 U.S.C. § 1982.

Reversing many precedents, the Supreme Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited both private and state-backed discrimination and that the 13th Amendment authorized Congress to prohibit private acts of discrimination as among "the badges and incidents of slavery." Congress possessed the power to "determine what are the badges and incidents of slavery, and the authority to translate that determination into effective legislation."