{{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox SCOTUS case |Litigants=Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections |ArgueDateA=January 6 |ArgueDateB=26 |ArgueYear=1966 |DecideDate=March 24 |DecideYear=1966 |FullName=Annie E. Harper, et al. v. [[Virginia State Board of Elections]], et al. |USVol=383 |USPage=663 |ParallelCitations=86 S. Ct. 1079; 16 [[L. Ed. 2d]] 169; 1966 [[U.S. LEXIS]] 2905 |Prior=240 [[F. Supp.]] [https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/240/270/2145244/ 270] ([[E.D. Va.]] 1964); probable jurisdiction noted, {{ussc|380|930|1965|el=no}}. |Subsequent= |Holding= Laws which specify Jim Crow Laws requirements to vote in elections violate the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution|Constitution of the United States of America]]. |Majority=Douglas |JoinMajority=Warren, Clark, Brennan, White, Fortas |Dissent=Black |Dissent2=Harlan |JoinDissent2=Stewart |LawsApplied=[[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|U.S. Const. amend. XIV]] |Overturned previous case = ''[[Breedlove v. Suttles]]'' (1937) }} {{wikisource}} '''''Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections''''', 383 U.S. 663 (1966), was a case in which the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] found that [[Virginia]]'s [[Poll tax (United States)|poll tax]] was unconstitutional under the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]].{{ussc|name=Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections|383|663|1966}}. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eleven southern states established poll taxes as part of their [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement of most blacks]] and many poor whites. The [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] (1964) prohibited poll taxes in federal elections; five states ([[Alabama]], [[Arkansas]], [[Mississippi]], [[Texas]], and [[Virginia]]) continued to require poll taxes for voters in state elections. By this ruling, the Supreme Court banned the use of poll taxes in state elections. ==Background== The case was filed by Virginia resident Annie E. Harper, who was unable to register without having to pay a poll tax. She brought the suit against the [[Virginia State Board of Elections]] on behalf of other poor residents and herself. Harper had previously argued the case before a U.S. district court on October 21, 1964, where it was consolidated with a similar case filed by [[Evelyn Thomas Butts]], ''Butts v. Harrison, Governor of Virginia'' and argued under the name ''Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections''.{{cite web|last1=Tarter|first1=Brett|title=Evelyn Thomas Butts (1924–1993)|url=http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Butts_Evelyn_Thomas_1924-1993|publisher=Encyclopedia Virginia|access-date=15 July 2015}} In the initial case lawyers for Harper and Butts argued against the constitutionality of the poll tax, but on November 12 the courts dismissed the case, citing 1930s precedents established by the [[United States Supreme Court]].{{cite journal |last1=Driver |first1=Justin |author-link1=Justin Driver |title=Recognizing Race |journal=[[Columbia Law Review]] |via=Chicago Unbound |date=2012 |page=444 |url=http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6017&context=journal_articles |access-date=15 July 2015}} Harper quickly appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, but in a separate case from Butts. Butts later appealed in a separate suit, but the two cases were argued together during late January 1966. ==Decision== In a 6 to 3 vote, the Court ruled in favor of Ms. Harper. The Court noted that "a state violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard. Voter qualifications have no relation to wealth." This ruling reversed a prior decision by the Court, ''[[Breedlove v. Suttles]]'', {{ussc|302|277|1937}}, which upheld the state's ability to impose poll taxes as within its powers. There had been no relevant change in the text of the Constitution between 1937 and 1966. The [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|24th Amendment]], adopted in 1964, outlawed the poll tax in federal elections, but did not speak to the question of state elections, which was the question involved in the Harper case. The Court membership had changed, and the justices examined the issue from a different point of view. ==Dissents== Joined by Justice [[Potter Stewart]], Justice [[John Marshall Harlan II]] dissented, arguing that the Court had allowed some forms of discriminatory voting qualifications without violating the equal protection clause, ''e.g.'', ''[[Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections]]'' (literacy test), ''[[Breedlove v. Suttles]]'' (poll tax on men), as long as it was rational. In this case, Virginia's poll tax could be deemed rational because of the state's desire to collect revenue and the belief that people who pay to vote might have more interest in the state's policies.{{cite book |last1=Issacharoff |first1=Samuel |last2=Karlan |first2=Pamela |author-link2=Pamela S. Karlan |last3=Pildes |first3=Richard |author-link3=Richard Pildes |title=The Law of Democracy |year=2007 |publisher=Foundation Press |isbn=978-1587784606 |page=41 |url=https://archive.org/details/lawofdemocracyle0000issa/page/41}} Justice [[Hugo Black]] filed a separate dissent. Black based his dissent mainly on ''[[stare decisis]]'' basis. As a textualist, he also criticized the majority for expanding the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment by using what he called the old "natural law due process formula". He emphasized that new meanings can be added to the Constitution only through amendments. ==See also== * [[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 383]] * [[Joseph A. Jordan Jr.]] ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == * {{caselaw source | case = ''Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections'', {{ussc|383|663|1966|el=no}} | courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/107197/harper-v-virginia-bd-of-elections/ | findlaw = https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/383/663.html | googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10289081725638058283 | justia =https://supreme.justia.com/us/383/663/case.html | loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep383/usrep383663/usrep383663.pdf | oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1965/48 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070304111738/http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/intro/intro_b.htm The Voting Rights Act of 1965, USDOJ.gov] *[https://www.prrac.org/newsletters/sepoct1999.pdf "Not the Rich, More Than the Poor: Poverty, Race, and Campaign Finance Reform"], [[John Bonifaz|John C. Bonifaz]], Poverty and Race Research Action Council. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525165750/http://www.prrac.org/full_text.php?text_id=152&item_id=1840&newsletter_id=46&header=Poverty+%2F+Welfare |date=2006-05-25 }} * {{cite journal |title=Basic Equal Protection Analysis |url=https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1787&context=lawreview |first=Russell W. Jr. |last=Galloway |journal=Santa Clara Law Review |volume=29 |number=1 |year=1989 |access-date=February 8, 2021}} {{Civil rights movement}} {{US14thAmendment|equalprotection}} [[Category:United States Supreme Court decisions that overrule a prior Supreme Court decision]] [[Category:History of voting rights in the United States]] [[Category:United States equal protection case law]] [[Category:United States Twenty-fourth Amendment case law]] [[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]] [[Category:United States Supreme Court cases in 1966]] [[Category:Legal history of Virginia]] [[Category:Civil rights movement case law]] [[Category:African-American history of Virginia]] [[Category:Virginia elections]] [[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court]] [[Category:1966 in Virginia]] [[Category:United States racial discrimination case law]]