November 5, 1872
Susan B. Anthony and fourteen other women were arrested for illegally attempting to vote, in Rochester, NY. This was a violation of the Enforcement Act of 1870, which made it illegal to vote if you did not have the right to vote. Anthony was arrested, tried, found guilty and fined $100 plus court costs.
November 5, 1917
In Buchanan v. Warley, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance that prohibited the sale of real estate to African-Americans. The Court ruled that the law was a violation of “freedom of contract” under the Fourteenth Amendment, not a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The Court wrote: “The effect of the ordinance under consideration was not merely to regulate a business or the like, but was to destroy the right of the individual to acquire, enjoy, and dispose of his property. Being of this character, it was void as being opposed to the due process clause of the constitution.”
