Myers v. Anderson

Myers v. Anderson
Myers v. Anderson
	Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 11–12, 1913; Decided June 21, 1915
Full case name	Charles E. Myers and A. Claude Kalmey, Plffs. in Err., v. John B. Anderson; Charles E. Myers and A. Claude Kalmey, Plffs. in Err., v. William H. Howard; Charles E. Myers and A. Claude Kalmey, Plffs. in Err., v. Robert Brown
Citations	238 U.S. 368 (more) 35 S. Ct. 932; 59 L. Ed. 1349
Holding
	182 F. 223 affirmed
Court membership
	Chief Justice Edward D. White Associate Justices Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr.; William R. Day · Charles E. Hughes; Willis Van Devanter · Joseph R. Lamar; Mahlon Pitney · James C. McReynolds
Case opinion
Majority	White
Laws applied
	U.S. Const. amend. XV

Myers v. Anderson, 238 U.S. 368 (1915), was a United States Supreme Court decision that held Maryland state officials liable for civil damages for enforcing a grandfather clause. Grandfather clauses exempted voters from requirements such as poll taxes and literacy tests if their grandfathers had been registered voters, and were largely designed to exempt white voters from restrictions intended to disenfranchise former black slaves and their descendants.^[1] Despite striking down the Maryland law as discriminatory, the court noted that economic discrimination in the form of property requirements should be presumed to be "free from constitutional objection."^[2]

Myers was a companion case to Guinn v. United States (1915),^[3] which struck down an Oklahoma grandfather clause that effectively exempted white voters from a literacy test, finding it to be discriminatory and a violation of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[1]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Mahoney, Dennis J. (January 1, 2000). "Guinn v. United States 238 U.S. 347 (1915)". Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. – via HighBeam Research (subscription required). Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
^ Keyssar, Alexander. "The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States," Basic Books, 2000, p. 108.
^ Guinn v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 (1915).

External links[]

Text of Myers v. Anderson, 238 U.S. 368 (1915) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress OpenJurist

[Mahoney-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b Mahoney, Dennis J. (January 1, 2000). "Guinn v. United States 238 U.S. 347 (1915)". Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. – via HighBeam Research (subscription required). Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2013.

[2] Keyssar, Alexander. "The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States," Basic Books, 2000, p. 108.

[3] Guinn v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 (1915).

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Myers v. Anderson
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 11–12, 1913 Decided June 21, 1915
Full case name	Charles E. Myers and A. Claude Kalmey, Plffs. in Err., v. John B. Anderson; Charles E. Myers and A. Claude Kalmey, Plffs. in Err., v. William H. Howard; Charles E. Myers and A. Claude Kalmey, Plffs. in Err., v. Robert Brown
Citations	238 U.S. 368 (more) 35 S. Ct. 932; 59 L. Ed. 1349
Holding
182 F. 223 affirmed
Court membership
Chief Justice Edward D. White Associate Justices Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr. William R. Day · Charles E. Hughes Willis Van Devanter · Joseph R. Lamar Mahlon Pitney · James C. McReynolds
Case opinion
Majority	White
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XV