74th Anniversary of Breedlove v. Suttles (302 U.S. 277): A Missed Opportunity for Justice

In 1937, the Supreme Court of the United States declared that poll taxes, as a prerequisite to voting, to be constitutional.  In Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277, (1937), Breedlove, a 28 year old white male, asked the Court strike Georgia's poll tax for violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Federal Constitution.  The Georgia law required a levy against men from the ages of 21-60.  Women were excluded unless they actually registered to vote.  Regarding the equal protection clause, Court promptly retreated to familiar territory: "The equal protection clause does not require absolute equality."  Interestingly, there are no citations for this principal, perhaps its truth is self-evident.  Most cases prior to Breedlove which emphatically stated that equal protection does not require absolute equality concerned equality with regards to taxation.  (See FS Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412 (1920); Colgate v. Harvey, 296 U.S.404 (1935); Maxwell v. Bugbee, 302 U.S. 277 (1937); Travellers' Ins. Co. v. Connecticut, (1902)).  In Breedlove, the issue of suffrage took a back seat to taxation.

The Court also offered additional arguments in support of Georgia's law.  The reasoning offered by Justice Butler was two-fold.  First, many countries, for a long time, have used poll taxes.  Second, the privilege of voting is not derived from the federal Constitution, but from the State. Thus, poll taxes are a tried and true method of taxation and States have the power to condition the right to vote such that it does not conflict with the 15th and 19th Amendments and "other provisions of the Federal Constitution."

Thirty-two years later, the Supreme Court could no longer ignore the voices of those excluded from the democratic process.  In Harper v. Virgina Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663, (1966), the Court reversed its decision in Breedlove.

In 1963, the 24th Amendment was ratified making poll taxes in Federal elections unconstitutional.  The Harper decision found poll taxes in both State and Federal elections to be in violation of the Equal Protection clause.