Cincinnati, Covington & Erlanger Railway Co. v. Kentucky

Background

A small, state-chartered interurban railway built an electric line from Covington toward Erlanger and beyond. A larger street railway company provided the money, built and ran the line as part of its system, and the local company leased the operation. Kentucky indicted the local company under the state Separate Coach Law for not providing separate coaches or compartments for white and colored passengers.

Reasoning

The Court treated this case together with a companion case that raised the same issues. The Justices said the facts and legal arguments here were essentially the same as in the other case and limited their review to whether the state law unreasonably interfered with interstate commerce. The Court noted that the Court of Appeals had decided the law did not interfere with interstate commerce and, relying on its handling of the companion case, affirmed the conviction of the railway company for violating the Separate Coach Law.

Real world impact

The ruling means Kentucky’s segregation rule could be applied to this interurban railway and to situations where a local company permits a larger operator to run cars without separate compartments. Rail companies that build, lease, or operate such lines in Kentucky face conviction if they fail to provide the separate coaches required by the state law. The opinion also shows that the broader interstate-commerce question was addressed in the companion case, so some larger legal issues were decided together elsewhere.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Day, joined by two colleagues, dissented. He argued the traffic here was interstate and that the state rule unreasonably burdened interstate commerce, so he would have reversed the conviction.