Story · San Francisco
Today in Supreme Court History: July 28, 1880
On July 28, 1880, the city of San Francisco enacted an ordinance prohibiting the operation of laundries in wooden buildings without the consent of the board of supervisors. This ordinance was later challenged and found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 1886 case Yick Wo v. Hopkins. The ruling established that a facially neutral law applied in a discriminatory manner violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case is a foundational precedent for civil rights and anti-discrimination law in the United States.
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