ABSTRACT
Judicial attitudes about the rights of women remained in the age of Blackstone. The Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled by Roosevelt's own Democratic Party, issued a vigorous repudiation of the court-packing plan. In doing so, it praised the Court as an essential guardian of individual and minority rights. When Congress passed legislation in 1875 to provide blacks with equal access to public accommodations, the Supreme Court declared the legislation unconstitutional. Congress included in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a section on public accommodations, relying on both the Fourteenth Amendment and the commerce power. With regard to the Fourteenth Amendment, Justice Brown sought guidance from the Slaughter-House Cases of 1873, which greatly undermined the national authority announced in the Civil War Amendments and instead gave added protection to independent state rights. To the federal judge, the state could not violate religious beliefs unless it demonstrates it necessary for the public safety, health, morals, property, or personal rights.
