Landmark Case at 40

Abstract

On June 17, 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. that Congress had the power to outlaw private housing discrimination. It based its decision on the 13th Amendment, which empowered Congress to "pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States." Today, its holding is worth re-examining. The court found that 42 U.S.C. 1982 clearly extended to private action, and Congress had the constitutional power to enact such a statute.

Keywords: Thirteenth Amendment, badges and incidents of slavery, race, civil rights, racial profiling, Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., Fourteenth Amendment, equal protection, Equal Protection Clause, slavery, abolition, stigma, strict scrutiny, housing discrimination, civil war, reconstruction, Congress

JEL Classification: K00, K19, K39