Edward Douglass White

Name: Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court
Author: Edward Douglass White

Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

Summary

“Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court”, is a work by Edward Douglass White. It explores elements such as the Fifteenth Amendment, the United States and standard.

Quotes from Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court (Edward Douglass White)

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ Hence, no assertion denying the right of a State to exert judgment and discretion in fixing the qualification of suffrage is advanced, and no right to question the motive of the State in establishing a standard as to such subjects under such circumstances or to review or supervise the same is relied upon, and no power to destroy an otherwise valid exertion of authority upon the mere ultimate operation of the power exercised is asserted. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ The United States insists that the provision of the amendment which fixes a standard based upon January 1, 1866, is repugnant to the prohibitions of the Fifteenth Amendment because, in substance and effect, that provision, if not an express, is certainly an open, repudiation of the Fifteenth Amendment, and hence the provision in question was stricken with nullity in its inception by the self-operative force of the Amendment, and, as the result of the same power, was at all subsequent times devoid of any vitality whatever. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ We state what we hold to be the rule thus strongly because we are of opinion that, on a subject like the one under consideration, involving the establishment of a right whose exercise lies at the very basis of government, a much more exacting standard is required than would ordinarily obtain where the influence of the declared unconstitutionality of one provision of a statute upon another and constitutional provision is required to be fixed. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ Government, in substance, says: no question is raised by the Government concerning the validity of the literacy test provided for in the amendment under consideration as an independent standard, since the conclusion is plain that that test rests on the exercise of state judgment, and therefore cannot be here assailed either by disregarding the State's power to judge on the subject or by testing its motive in enacting the provision. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ A familiar illustration of this doctrine resulted from the effect of the adoption of the Amendment on state constitutions in which, at the time of the adoption of the Amendment, the right of suffrage was conferred on all white male citizens, since, by the inherent power of the Amendment, the word white disappeared, and therefore all male citizens, without discrimination on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, came under the generic grant of suffrage made by the State. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ The qualified electors of the State shall be male citizens of the United States, male citizens of the State, and male persons of Indian descent native of the United States, who are over the age of twenty-one years, who have resided in the State one year, in the county six months, and in the election precinct thirty days, next preceding the election at which any such elector offers to vote. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ If you believe from the evidence that the defendants formed a common design and cooperated in denying the colored voters of Union Township precinct, or any of them, entitled to vote, the privilege of voting, but this was due to a mistaken belief sincerely entertained by the defendants as to the qualifications of the voters — that is, if the motive actuating the defendants was honest, and they simply erred in the conception of their duty — then the criminal intent requisite to their guilt is wanting, and they cannot be convicted. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edward Douglass White, Guinn v. United States — Opinion of the Court

“ For the plaintiffs in error, on the other hand, it is said the States have the power to fix standards for suffrage, and that power was not taken away by the Fifteenth Amendment, but only limited to the extent of the prohibitions which that Amendment established. ”

Edward Douglass White

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