Basically Law

Read the opinion here.

Issue.  Can Congress constitutionally pass a law under the Enabling Clause of the 13th Amendment to prevent all discrimination in the sale or rental of property, regardless of state action?

Background.  An African-American claimed that he was denied the opportunity to purchase a home because of his race.  He sued for injunctive and other relief under, in part, 42 U.S.C. 1982.  That statute states:

All citizens of the United States shall have the same right, in every State and Territory, as is enjoyed by white citizens thereof to inherent, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property.

Finding that the statute was inapplicable to private refusals to sell, lower federal courts dismissed the claim.  The Supreme Court, on appeal, reversed.

Court's Analysis.  The Court found that the statute barred all racial discrimination involving the sale or rental or property.  Further, the law was a constitutionally valid exercise of the power of Congress to enforce the 13th Amendment (abolition of slavery).

Those refusing the sale argued that Congress could never have intended such an interpretation of the statute.  The Court, however, examined the history surrounding the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and found that Congress meant exactly what it said.  Thus, the discrimination applies to both private and State action.

After determining that Congress meant to regulate private conduct, the Court analyzed whether Congress had the constitutional authority to pass such a law.  The Court found that Congress had such power under Section 2 of the 13th Amendment (Enabling Clause), which gave Congress the power to pass laws to enforce the abolition of slavery.  The Enabling Clause gave Congress the power to do much more than just abolish slavery.  It gave Congress the "power to pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States."

Congress has the power to determine what are the badges and incidents of slavery and the authority to translate that determination into effective legislation.  One of the "burdens and disabilities" of slavery included the restraint on the fundamental right to sell or to buy property.  The Court summarizes:

[W]hen racial discrimination herds men into ghettos, and makes their ability to buy property turn on the color of their skin, then it too is a relic of slavery. . .the freedom that Congress is empowered to secure under the 13th Amendment includes the freedom to buy whatever a white man can buy, the right to live wherever a white man can live.  If Congress cannot say that being a free man means at least this much, then the 13th Amendment made a promise the Nation cannot [keep].