What Does the Civil Rights Act Have to do with Commerce?
The 1787 Project - A podcast by Justin Dyer
Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations. That part of the Act was challenged in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964) when the owner of the motel said that Congress did not have the authority to pass Title II of the Civil Rights Act in the first place. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court upheld the act as an exercise of Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce.
