Equal Justice 'Under'
(ie, subordinate to?) Law"?

Minor v. Happersett

Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1874) was a United States Supreme Court case appealed from the Supreme Court of Missouri concerning the Missouri law which ordained "Every male citizen of the United States shall be entitled to vote."

Minor, a woman, alleged that the refusal of Happersett, a registrar for the State of Missouri, to allow her to register to vote was an infringement of her civil rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Decision

The Supreme Court of Missouri upheld the Missouri voting legislation saying that the proscription of male citizen only was not an infringement of Minor's civil rights.

The Supreme Court affirmed and upheld the lower court's ruling on the basis that the Fourteenth Amendment does not add to the privileges and immunities of a citizen. Since the United States Constitution did not provide suffrage for women, the Fourteenth Amendment did not confer that right. The court's decision had nothing to do with whether women were considered persons or not under the Fourteenth Amendment but rested solely on the lack of provisions within the Constitution for women's suffrage.