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· 4/27/1965

Harman v. Forssenius

Citations

  • 380 U.S. 528
  • 85 S. Ct. 1177
  • 14 L. Ed. 2d 50
  • 1965 U.S. LEXIS 1347

About this case

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1965 United States Supreme Court case

Harman v. Forssenius, 380 U.S. 528 (1965), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that Virginia 's partial elimination of the poll tax violated the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution .

Virginia attempted to avoid the effect of the 24th Amendment by creating an "escape clause" to the poll tax. In lieu of paying the poll tax, a prospective voter could apply for a certificate establishing a place of residence in Virginia. The application had to be made six months prior to an election, a measure expected to decrease the number of eligible voters.[1]

In the 1965 Supreme Court decision of Harman v. Forssenius, the Court unanimously found such measures unconstitutional and declared that, for federal elections, "the poll tax is abolished absolutely as a prerequisite to voting, and no equivalent or milder substitute may be imposed."[2]

References

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harman_v._Forssenius&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: References")
]

  1. Chadwick, John (January 24, 1964). "Poll Tax Battle Long One" . Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press.
  2. Harman v. Forssenius , majority opinion.

External links

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harman_v._Forssenius&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: External links")
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Editorial context from Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

  • holding that six-month advance registration to avoid poll tax unduly burdened the right to vote
  • holding that six-month advance registration to avoid poll tax unduly burdened the right to vote
  • holding that “the Twenty-fourth Amendment abolish[ed] the poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections”
  • holding that a district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to abstain \[g]iven the importance and immediacy of the problem[ ] and the delay inherent in referring questions of state law to state tribunals\
  • holding that a district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to abstain \[g]iven the importance and immediacy of the problem[] and the delay inherent in referring questions of state law to state tribunals\
  • noting that by the time the Twenty-fourth Amendment was proposed, “only five States retained the poll tax as a voting requirement”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Warren

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Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.