United States v. Anthony

One of those who voted in 1872 was Susan B. Anthony. Before registering in Rochester, New York, she had consulted Judge Henry R. Selden, who agreed that Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment should entitle women to suffrage; she carried his written opinion with her and threatened to sue the registrars if they failed to take her oath. They complied. Anthony and 14 female companions were registered and, on 5 November, they voted. On 28 November, Susan B. Anthony, the other 14 women, and the inspectors who had registered them, were arrested.

All parties were offered release upon payment of $500 bail; Anthony alone refused to pay. Henry Selden, acting as her attorney, applied for a writ of habeas corpus, and Anthony was temporarily released. A U.S. district judge denied the writ and reset her bail at $1000 on 21 January 1873. Anthony refused to pay, but Selden--who would later explain that he "could not see a lady I respected put in jail"--paid the bail. Anthony was released and immediately lost her right to appeal to the Supreme Court on the basis of the writ of habeas corpus.