Twenty-Fourth Amendment - Abolition of Poll Taxes

The concept of poll taxes has a long history, being a method of taxation that dates back centuries. Governments have used poll taxes to raise revenue. In Colonial America, governments initially restricted the right to vote to those who owned property. They later transitioned to poll taxes. As the nation expanded, states gradually eliminated poll taxes as a voting prerequisite and restricted voting rights exclusively to white men.

The Fifteenth Amendment changed this dynamic, extending the right to vote to African American men. It is one of three amendments passed after the U.S. Civil War during Reconstruction. The other Reconstruction Amendments include the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment ensured that newly freed African Americans enjoyed the same civil rights and equality as their peers.

Even after the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, numerous Southern states chose to reinstate poll taxes and literacy tests to disenfranchise African-American men. The objective of these measures was to suppress the Black American vote, a goal that these states achieved. This suppression persisted until 1962, at the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, when Congress enacted the Twenty-Fourth Amendment.

What the 24th Amendment Says

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

Historical Backdrop

To understand the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, we must understand the history that led to its ratification. States had ratified the Fifteenth Amendment, giving Black men the right to vote. They also ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote. However, Black Americans continued to encounter barriers to voting. In the South, during Jim Crow, many Southern states restricted Black Americans from casting ballots in local, state, or federal elections. Many Black Americans faced the following obstacles to casting a ballot:

• Poll taxes
• Literacy tests
• Intimidation (primarily led by groups like the Klu Klux Klan)
• Grandfather clauses (clauses limiting the right to vote to those who could prove their grandfather voted)

Although these laws focused on suppressing the African-American vote, they also hampered the ability of economically disadvantaged white citizens. Voting rights were one essential goal of the Civil Rights Movement, ensuring everyone could vote regardless of race or ethnicity. This was a goal that then-President John F. Kennedy embraced and encouraged Congress to act.

Why The 24th Amendment Was Needed

The ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1964 heralded a new era in voting rights in America. The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly confer the right to vote on U.S. Citizens. Instead, states have consistently determined many voting eligibility qualifications, such as poll taxes or literacy tests. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment changed this landscape.

Congress viewed many of these obstacles as unconstitutional restrictions on voting rights. However, in Breedlove v. Suttles the Supreme Court deemed poll taxes constitutional. Breedlove is a 1937 case that tested the constitutionality of a Georgia poll tax.

In Breedlove, the Georgia statute imposed a one-dollar poll tax on voters between the ages of 21 and 60, except for blind people or women. Moreover, under the Georgia State Constitution, only those who paid all poll taxes could register and vote.

Breedlove, the Appellant, sued the Georgia State Tax Collector. Breedlove argued that the poll tax was unconstitutional because it violated his rights under the privileges and immunities clause and equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He also argued that the poll tax violated his rights under the Nineteenth Amendment. Breedlove also argued that the law was unequal because it exempted women.

The Court disagreed, noting that the Nineteenth Amendment applied equally to men and women and that its purpose was not to "regulate the levy or collection of taxes." The Court ultimately determined that the poll tax was constitutional.

In light of the Breedlove decision, a constitutional amendment was the best way for Congress to protect voting rights. The 24th Amendment effectively overruled Breedlove v. Suttles.

Although the Twenty-Fourth Amendment was a big step in the right direction, it only applied to federal elections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave the U.S. Attorney General the authority to pursue injunctive relief wherever states used poll taxes to discriminate in state and local elections racially.

Supreme Court Decisions on the 24th Amendment

The U.S. Supreme Court is the final arbiter on constitutional law. Two landmark Supreme Court decisions can help us understand how to analyze and interpret this Amendment.

Harman v. Forssenius

In Harman, the State of Virginia imposed restrictions for anyone voting in a federal election. Before voting in elections, Virginia residents had to either pay a poll tax or file a certificate of residents to vote.

Three Virginia residents sued the State in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. They argued that this law violated their constitutional rights.

The District Court agreed with the plaintiffs. They invalidated portions of the Virginia legislation requiring residents to file a certificate of residence. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision, holding that the Virginia law was "repugnant to the Twenty-Fourth Amendment."

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections

In Harper, three residents of Virginia sued the Governor over a Virginia poll tax. They sought a declaration that the poll tax was not constitutional. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the case, and the plaintiffs appealed.

The Supreme Court held that Virginia's poll violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause and was, therefore, unconstitutional.

The Court noted that the equal protection clause prevented states from enacting discriminatory voter qualifications. The Court recognized that States violate the equal protection clause whenever "it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Twenty-Fourth Amendment only applied to federal elections. This left African-American voters in the South unable to vote in local and state elections.

Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment's guarantee of voting without racial discrimination. Congress passed this Act on August 5, 1965, and then-President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it the next day.

Under this Act, "covered jurisdictions" (mostly in Southern states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee) had to request pre-clearance before enacting any new voting rights legislation. The Act also gave the U. S. Attorney General the authority to "challenge the authority of poll taxes in state and local elections.

Although the Supreme Court invalidated Section Four of the Act in Shelby County v. Holder, other sections remain good law.