Which Supreme Court decisions limited federal enforcement of civil rights and what was their effect?

• A. United States v. Cruikshank (1876) and Civil Rights Cases (1883) limited federal enforcement.
• B. Brown v. Board of Education.
• C. Marbury v. Madison.
• D. Dred Scott v. Sandford.

Answer: (A)

Federal power to protect civil rights was weakened when the Court ruled that the 14th Amendment and related civil rights laws mainly constrain state action, not private individuals or private discrimination. In United States v. Cruikshank (1876), the Court held that the 14th Amendment does not give Congress broad authority to punish private acts of violence by individuals who deprive others of rights; federal enforcement could reach only actions that amount to state action or involvement. This meant that many violent acts by white mobs against Black citizens could not be prosecuted under federal law unless the state was a participant, narrowing federal protection against mob violence.

In Civil Rights Cases (1883), the Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which sought to guarantee equal access to public accommodations. The Court said Congress could not regulate private discrimination in these settings because such discrimination did not involve state action; the 14th Amendment protects individuals from state actions, not private acts. The immediate effect was to leave private businesses and individuals free to discriminate in many public spaces, while state governments were free to enforce segregation and disenfranchisement with little federal check.

Together, these decisions helped pave the era of Jim Crow by weakening federal enforcement of civil rights and allowing states to implement and enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement with far less federal intervention until later civil rights advances in the mid-20th century.