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'''United States v. Harris''', 106 U.S. 629 (1883), sometimes referred to as the ''Ku Klux Case'', was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to penalize crimes such as assault and murder. It declared that the local governments have the power to penalize these crimes. The fact that many of these crimes were racially motivated in the south was ignored.
In the specific case, four African Americans were kidnapped by a band led by R. G. Harris and 19 other from a Tennessee prison and one was murdered. A sheriff tried to prevent the lynching, but failed. Section 2 of the Force Act of 1871 was declared unconstitutional on the theory that an Act to enforce the Equal Protection Clause applied only to state action, not to state inaction.

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External links

★ 106 U.S. 629 Full text of the opinion courtesy of Findlaw.com.

★ Summary of case from OYEZ

References

Divine, Robert A., Breen, T.H., Geroge M. Fredrickson, Williams, Hal R., Gross, Ariela J., & Brands, H.W. (2005). ''The American Story.'' New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
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