What did the Civil Rights Cases (1883) decide about federal authority to protect against private discrimination?

• A. Upheld federal authority to prohibit private discrimination under the 14th Amendment.
• B. Extended federal enforcement to all private discrimination nationwide.
• C. Declared the 15th Amendment guaranteed rights to vote for all citizens.
• D. Held that the 14th Amendment did not prohibit private discrimination; curtailed federal enforcement and delayed broad civil rights protections.

Answer: (D)

This question tests how far the 14th Amendment can reach private discrimination and how that affects federal enforcement. The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 held that the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause applies to state action, not to actions by private individuals or businesses. Because of that distinction, Congress could not rely on the 14th Amendment to prohibit private discrimination in public accommodations, so the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was struck down as it applied to private actors. The result was a curtailment of federal enforcement against private discrimination and a slowdown in broad civil rights protections for most African Americans for decades. The decision isn’t about voting rights—those concerns are tied to the 15th Amendment, which this case did not establish or expand.