Reitman v. Mulkey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.

WikiProject Law or the Law Portal may be able to help recruit one.

If a more appropriate WikiProject or portal exists, please adjust this template accordingly.

Reitman v. Mulkey

Full case name:

Citations:	387 U.S. 369; 87 S. Ct. 1627; 18 L. Ed. 2d 830;

Holding

Court membership

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

Case opinions

Majority by: White
Dissent by: Harlan
Joined by: Black, Clark, Stewart

Laws applied

Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution

Reitman v. Mulkey, 387 U.S. 369 (1967)^[1], was a United States Supreme Court decision that set an important legal precedent that a United States citizen that states could repeal laws providing protection against racial discrimination by Amending their state Constitution of referendum if their immediate objective is neutral and not to facilitate private racism. This case can be compared to Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1 where the court held that a state-wide initiative that was designed primarily to put an end to a newly formed bussing program in Seattle was unconstitutional. Thus collectively these cases stand for the proposition that, non-constitutionally required racially based desegregation programs may be repealed, that must be repealed by the level of government that develops the program. That is a state can not change the rules just so that a municipality cannot institute a desegregation program.

This principle, although not explicitly mentioned by the court, seemed to be applied analogously to homosexuals in Romer v. Evans.