Breedlove v. Suttles 302 U.S. 277 (1937)

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BREEDLOVE v. SUTTLES 302 U.S. 277 (1937)

Georgia levied an annual poll tax of one dollar on every inhabitant between ages twenty-one and sixty except blind persons and women who did not register to vote. Voting registration was conditioned on payment of accrued poll taxes. A white male, denied registration for failure to pay poll taxes, challenged this scheme as a violation of the equal protection and privileges and immunities clauses of the fourteenth amendment, and of the nineteenth amendment as well. In an opinion by Justice pierce butler, a unanimous Supreme Court summarily rejected all these challenges and upheld the law. Breedlove was overruled in harper v. virginia board of elections (1966).

Kenneth L. Karst
(1986)

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