Ex parte Riggins

Citations

• 134 F. 404
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 5169

Syllabus

<p>L Constitutional Law — Civil Rights.</p> <p>Tbe first section of Civil Rights Act April 9, 1866, c. 31, 14 Stat. 27, now codified in substance as section 1977 of the Revised Statutes [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1259], but first passed in the exercise of power claimed by Congress under the thirteenth amendment, prescribes, as the standard of the freedom the amendment gave the emancipated race, perfect equality of civil rights with the white race. The enjoyment of this civil equality with the white race constitutes, in the constitutional sense, the freedom intended to be bestowed, and is a right, privilege, or immunity given or secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States to members of the emancipated race.</p> <p>2. Same — Interference.</p> <p>When a - negro citizen is assailed by white men, with the intent to prevent the enjoyment by the negro, because of his race, of any civil right given by law to the white citizen, it is an interference with the negro’s enjoyment of equality of civil rights, because of his race, and therefore constitutes an attack upon the right, privilege, or immunity — the freedom —the thirteenth amendment and the acts of Congress secure to him.</p> <p>3. Equal Protection of the Laws.</p> <p>It is impossible for private persons to prevent, in the constitutional sense, the enjoyment of the right to the equal protection of the laws, since the right is actually enjoyed when a citizen or person is not improperly discriminated against in the making or execution of state laws. The fourteenth amendment in this respect confers only the right to a legal status, which status can be created, in the first instance, only by legislation, and, when conferred, can be impaired only by acts of officials who wield state power in the execution of its laws.</p> <p>4. Same — Due Process of Law.</p> <p>The vital constituents of due process of law, when the state undertakes to punish the citizen for crime, are dependent upon or secured by the Constitutio