In its first constitutional challenge to the equal protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme
Court decided to hear a case brought by a Chinese immigrant,
not an American citizen.
Yick Wo believed city ordinances had been unfairly applied
to him, so he challenged their constitutionality under
the equal protection clause, and took his case all the way to
the Supreme Court. Initiated by the Chinese in San Francisco,
the precedent-setting case expanded the interpretation
of the equal protection clause to include both citizens
and non-citizens alike. It also established foundational
principles of law.
In Yick Wo v. Hopkins, the court ruled that “an administration
of a municipal ordinance . . . violates the Constitution
. . . if it makes arbitrary and unjust discriminations founded
on differences of race . . .” “The guarantees of the Fourteenth
Amendment extend to “all persons within the territorial
jurisdiction of the United States, without regard to differences
of race, or color, or of nationality.” “. . . the equal protection
of the laws is a pledge of the protection of equal laws.”
In this lesson, students explore the cause-and-effect relationships
between historical events and the development of constitutional
principles that protect the rights of all people
in America today. The words inscribed on the U.S. Supreme
Court building are a reminder of that protection—
“Equal Justice Under Law.”