CONSTITUTIONAL LAW | Bradwell vs. Illinois, 83 US 103 (1873)
Bradwell vs. Illinois,
83 US 103 (1873)
FACTS In 1869, Myra Bradwell passed the Illinois bar exam and applied for admission to the Illinois bar in accordance with a state statute that permitted any adult of good character and with sufficient training to be admitted to the practice of law. Because she was a woman, however, the Illinois Supreme Court denied her admission, noting that the "strife" of the bar would surely destroy femininity. The legal rationale was based on the common law doctrine of coverture which denied a married woman a legal existence apart from her husband. Bradwell appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that her right to practice law was protected by the Privileges or Immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Whether or not the decision violates the equal protection clause of the federal Constitution. (NO)
RULING
The court held that the second section of the fourth article is inapplicable, because the plaintiff was a citizen of the state of whose action she complains, and that section only guarantees privileges and immunities to citizens of other states, in that state. Nor is the right to practice law in the state courts a privilege or immunity of a citizen of the United States, within the meaning of the first section of the Fourteenth Article of amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
In the case at bar, the court ruled that the power of a state to prescribe the qualifications for admission to the bar of its own courts is unaffected by the Fourteenth Amendment, and this Court cannot inquire into the reasonableness or propriety of the rules it may prescribe.