Ryan Fitzer

I remember learning about Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad (1886) case while in school and how it essentially gave corporations the same rights as citizens. What I didn’t know was that the courts actual opinion had nothing to to with the 14th amendment. It was the court reporter’s summary of the case that connected the amendment:

The court reporter, J.C. Bancroft Davis, wrote the following as part of the headnote for the case:

“The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does.”