Question 3 of 7
(demo test)
Product Demo for AP US Government and Politics
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Which of the following rights did the Supreme Court uphold with its landmark decision in the case of Leser v. Garnett (1922)?
The correct answer to this question is letter A, the right to vote for United States citizens regardless of sex.
The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote equally to men in state and federal elections and was the focal point of debate in the landmark Supreme Court case Leser v. Garnett (1922). The Nineteenth Amendment prevents the federal government and/or the states from denying citizens of the United States the right to vote based on sex. It was initially introduced to Congress in 1878, but was not until 1919. It was then ratified by the states and was officially adopted on August 26, 1920. The Nineteenth Amendment states:
Shortly after the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, two women in Maryland registered to vote. However, a judge named Oscar Leser sued to have their names removed from the voting rolls. He made the following arguments:
- The Maryland state constitution stipulated that only men could vote
- Maryland had not ratified the new amendment to the United States Constitution
- Many states that had ratified the amendment had constitutions that prohibited women from voting. Thus, these states were not permitted to ratify an amendment contrary to their state law
- Ratification by Tennessee and West Virginia were invalid, as it was performed without following the rules of legislative procedure within the state
The case was ultimately heard by the Supreme Court of the United States (Leser v. Garnett, 1922). In a unanimous ruling, the Court ruled against Leser and upheld the Nineteenth Amendment. In supporting their decision, the Court made the following arguments:
1. The Nineteenth Amendment is similar in spirit to the Fifteenth Amendment, which had been ratified in 1870. The Fifteenth Amendment states: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude". The Court held that since denying the right to vote based on race and gender was unconstitutional, so was denying it based on sex.
2. While individual states may have written in their state constitution that only men could vote, states were operating in a federal capacity as laid down in the Constitution when they ratified the Nineteenth Amendment. This role "transcends any limitations sought to be imposed by the people of a state" and therefore supersedes a state's constitution.
3. With regards to Tennessee and West Virginia, the Court held that since the Secretary of State for each had accepted the ratification, they were valid. Furthermore, shortly after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, two additional states (Connecticut and Vermont) also ratified the Amendment and even without Tennessee and West Virginia, the necessary three-fourths majority of states were met to ratify the Amendment.
Learning Point: In the Supreme Court case Leser v. Garnett (1922), the Court upheld the Nineteenth Amendment, assuring that the federal government and/or states could not deny the right to vote based on sex.
