Bradwell v. State of Illinois, 83 U.S. 130 (1873), was a United States Supreme Court case that solidifed the narrow reading of the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and determined that the right to practice a profession was not among these privileges. Court citation is a standard system used in common law countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Amendment XIV (the Fourteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution is one of the post-Civil War amendments and includes the due process and equal protection clauses (Section 1). ...

The bench

Decision

Bradwell was decided by a vote of 8 to 1 on April 15, 1873.

Opinion

Associate Justice Miller

Concurring

Associate Justices Bradley, Field, and Swayne.

Dissenting

Associate Justice Chase.

Case

Myra Bradwell applied for membership in the Illinois state bar in accordance with a state statute that permitted any adult of good character and with sufficient training to be admitted. Because she was a woman, however, the Illinois State Bar denied her admission, noting that the "strife" of the bar would surely destroy femininity. Bradwell applied the decision to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that her right to practice law was protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... The Fourteenth Amendment may refer to the: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - contains the due process and equal protection clauses. ...

The Court disagreed. In an 8-1 ruling, it upheld the decision of the Illinois court, ruling that the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not include a right to practice a profession. Justice Bradley's concurrence is notable for positing that it was the "paramount destiny" of a woman to "fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator."

Subsequent history

About a hundred years later, the Court began employing the Fourteenth Amendment as a way of overturning gender-discriminatory state laws. In doing so, however, it would typically use the "equal protection" clause, rather than the clause cited in Bradwell, "privileges and immunities."

See also

• Slaughterhouse Cases - established the narrow reading of "privileges and immunities" upon which the Bradwell decision was founded.

John A. Campbell, attorney for the butchers The Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1872) represented a block appeal to the United States Supreme Court testing the relatively new Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. ...

External links

• Full text decision at www.findlaw.com (http://laws.findlaw.com/us/83/130.html)