United States v. Cruikshank (1876)

1) Link to the Actual Opinion
Read the U.S. Reports opinion (PDF)

2) Summary of the Opinion
After the Colfax Massacre in Louisiana, federal charges were brought against white men who killed dozens of Black citizens. The Supreme Court overturned the convictions, holding that the Bill of Rights did not apply to the states and that the 14th Amendment only restricted state governments, not private individuals.

3) Why It Mattered
This decision severely weakened Reconstruction efforts to protect freedmen from racial violence. It hollowed out the federal government’s ability to prosecute civil rights violations by private actors.

4) What It Provided or Took Away

• Took Away: Federal power to enforce protections of assembly, arms, and equal protection against individuals or groups.
• Provided: States near-total control over punishing private violence, even when racially motivated.

5) Overreach or Proper Role?
It was an extreme narrowing of Reconstruction Amendments, widely criticized as judicial abandonment of federal responsibility to protect freed slaves.

6) Plain-English Impact Today
The ruling left civil rights protections largely unenforceable for nearly a century, until the 20th-century civil rights movement and new federal laws restored them.

• 14th Amendment
• Civil Rights
• Reconstruction
• Bill of Rights