DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES ON CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS1 III

1914-1917

THOMAS REED POWELL

Columbia University

V. RACE DISCRIMINATION

Two instances of race discrimination which came before the court were aimed against aliens. Truax v. Raich2 annulled an Arizona statute which required every employer of not more than five workers to employ not less than 80 per cent qualified electors or native born citizens of the United States. The decision was based, not only on the equal protection clause, but also on the principle that the states must not interfere with the acknowledged powers of the nation. The power to admit aliens which Congress possesses and has exercised would be nugatory if the states after their admission could deny them the opportunity of a livelihood. But neither of these principles was held applicable to the exclusion of aliens from employment on public works. The opinions in Heim v. McCall3 and Crane v. New York went so far as to declare that a state must be as free as an individual to decide for itself what persons shall be employed on work done

1 For the first two installments of this article see 12 American Political Science Review 17-49 (February, 1918) and 427-457 (August, 1918).

2 (1915) 239 U. S. 33. See 22 Case and Comment 780, 29 Harvard Law Review 219, 9 Maine Law Review 126, 64 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 616, and 3 Virginia Law Review 398.

(1915) 239 U. S. 175. See T. R. Powell, "The Right to Work for the State," 16 Columbia Law Review 99. See also 4 California Law Review 405, 16 Columbia Law Review 67, 1 Cornell Law Quarterly 175, 29 Harvard Law Review 452, 2 Iowa Law Bulletin 140, 14 Michigan Law Review 246, 1 Southern Law Quarterly 165, 1 Virginia Law Register, n. s. 707, 710, and 3 Virginia Law Review 390. For comments on the decision in the state court see 15 Columbia Law Review 263, 28 Harvard Law Review 628, and 13 Michigan Law Review 695.

4 (1915) 239 U. S. 195.