## Facts

- Joseph Lee Jones and his wife, an African American couple, sought to purchase a home in St. Louis County, Missouri.
- Alfred H. Mayer Co., a private real estate developer/seller, allegedly refused to sell them a home solely because Jones was Black.
- The Joneses filed suit in federal court seeking injunctive and other relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1982, which guarantees all citizens the same property rights as white citizens.
- The district court dismissed the complaint, ruling that § 1982 required state action and did not reach purely private refusals to sell.
- The court of appeals affirmed on the same state-action rationale.

## Issues

1. Whether 42 U.S.C. § 1982 prohibits racial discrimination by private parties, as well as by governmental actors, in the sale or rental of property.
2. Whether, if § 1982 reaches purely private discrimination, Congress had authority under the Thirteenth Amendment to enact and enforce it as legislation eliminating the badges and incidents of slavery.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed, holding that § 1982 bars all racial discrimination, private as well as public, in the sale or rental of property.
- The Court held that § 1982, so construed, is a valid exercise of Congress’s power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment.
- The Court concluded that the Fair Housing Act of 1968 did not moot the case or alter § 1982’s meaning.
- Vote: 7–2. Justice Stewart wrote the Court’s opinion; Justice Douglas concurred; Justice Harlan dissented, joined by Justice White.

## Legal Principles

- 42 U.S.C. § 1982 prohibits racial discrimination in property transactions by private actors and by the government; it is not limited by a state-action requirement.
- Congress may enforce the Thirteenth Amendment by legislating against the badges and incidents of slavery, including private racial barriers to acquiring and conveying property.
- The Thirteenth Amendment’s enforcement power is not confined to regulating state conduct; it permits Congress to reach private conduct that perpetuates slavery’s legal and social remnants.
- Later-enacted federal housing legislation does not displace § 1982’s independent remedial scope for racial discrimination in property sales and rentals.

## Conclusion

The Court held that § 1982 creates a federal prohibition on private racial discrimination in the sale and rental of property and that Congress may constitutionally impose that prohibition under its Thirteenth Amendment power to eliminate the badges and incidents of slavery.


Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968)