March 1876

In United States v. Cruikshank (1876), arising from the Colfax Massacre prosecutions, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the 14th Amendment only prohibited state action — not private violence — and that the federal government therefore had no power to prosecute private individuals who murdered or terrorized Black citizens. The Court also held that the right to bear arms and the right of assembly did not derive from the federal government and thus could not be federally protected. The decision eviscerated the Enforcement Acts and Ku Klux Klan Act, leaving Black Southerners with no federal legal protection from the paramilitary violence that was overthrowing Reconstruction governments.

The Supreme Court overturns the Colfax massacre convictions, ruling the Fourteenth Amendment does not reach private violence — disarming federal enforcement.

The Court strikes down parts of the Enforcement Acts, narrowing federal power to protect Black voting and opening the path to disenfranchisement.