Mobile v. Bolden

Mobile v. Bolden was a widely criticized Supreme Court decision on the issue of racial discrimination. As part of a retreat from the wide-ranging reforms of the Civil Rights movement, the decision helped set the stage for a debate two years later over renewing the Voting Rights Act. Creating a storm of controversy, the Court rejected the idea that discriminatory effects were enough to establish that an action was in violation of the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendment. Instead, the highly divided Court asserted, discriminatory purpose must be proved for an action to be judged unconstitutional. The Supreme Court thus overturned a U.S. district court judgment declaring Mobile's city government in violation of the Constitution.