| United States V. Cruikshank |
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The ''Cruikshank'' case dealt with the Colfax Massacre , an incident in which an armed mob of whites attacked and killed over one hundred blacks in Colfax, Louisiana . The ringleaders were put on trial and convicted under the Enforcement Act Of 1870 , legislation similar to modern legislation making it a crime to interfere with constitutional rights. The Supreme Court ruled on a range of issues and found the indictment faulty. The Court did not incorporate the Bill of Rights to the states and found that the 1st Amendment right to assembly "was not intended to limit the powers of the State governments in respect to their own citizens" and (neither directly supported nor directly contradicted by modern Supreme Court rulings) that the 2nd Amendment "has no other effect than to restrict the powers of the national government". Although the Enforcement Act had been designed primarily to halt the violence of the Ku Klux Klan in preventing blacks from voting, the ''Cruikshank'' court held that the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses apply only to state action, and not to actions of individuals. Although significant portions of ''Cruikshank'' have been overturned by later decisions, it is still relied upon with some authority in other portions. |
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