In the 1905 case Attorney General of the State of Michigan upon the Relation of Kies v. Lowrey, a dispute arose over whether a woman who married an alien man could retain her U.S. citizenship status. The plaintiff, Mrs. Kies, was born in America and later married Mr. Lowrey, a British subject residing in Canada where they lived together as husband and wife for several years before returning to Michigan after his death. The Supreme Court ruled that under common law principles at that time (which held that women took on their husbands' nationality), Mrs. Kies had lost her American citizenship through marriage to an alien man despite living most of her life within United States borders post-marriage. This decision reflected societal norms during this period which often subsumed women's legal identities into those of their husbands'. It wasn't until much later with changes in legislation such as Cable Act or Married Women’s Independent Nationality Act in 1922 when these types of laws began to change.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of Attorney General of Michigan upon the Relation of Kies v. Lowrey, Justice Harlan argued that denying a woman's right to vote because she was married violated her rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. He contended that marriage did not strip women of their citizenship or their privileges as citizens, including voting. Furthermore, he disagreed with majority’s interpretation that suffrage is not a privilege or immunity granted by U.S Constitution but rather left up to individual states' discretion. In his view, this approach undermined federal authority and allowed states too much power in determining who could exercise fundamental democratic rights like voting.