Ohio Ex Rel. Clarke v. Deckebach

Background

A man who said he was a British subject applied for a license to run a billiard and pool room in Cincinnati and was refused because a city ordinance bars issuing such licenses to noncitizens. He sued the city auditor in Ohio’s highest court, arguing the refusal violated an 1815 treaty with Great Britain and denied him equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Ohio court dismissed his petition on the pleadings, and the case reached this Court for review.

Reasoning

The Court first held that the 1815 treaty protects merchants and traders in their commerce but does not extend to every occupation; owning a place of amusement that does not buy and sell goods is not the kind of international commerce the treaty covers. The Court then addressed equal treatment under the Fourteenth Amendment and explained that while plainly irrational discrimination is forbidden, a city may adopt class-based rules when they are reasonably related to public safety. Cincinnati’s pleadings described pool rooms as linked to crime, juvenile delinquency, and other harms, and the Court found it could not say the city’s judgment was irrational. The Court therefore accepted the ordinance as a permissible police regulation.

Real world impact

The decision allows local governments to refuse certain business licenses to noncitizens when the exclusion is tied to asserted public-safety risks and has a conceivable rational basis. It narrows treaty protections to commercial traders and gives cities some deference in addressing locally perceived dangers. The judgment of the Ohio court was affirmed.