In the 1902 case of Giles v. Harris, Jackson W. Giles, an African American man from Alabama, sued Joseph F. Harris, a voting registrar in Montgomery County for denying him and other black men their right to vote despite being qualified under the state's constitution. The Supreme Court ruled against Giles on technical grounds without addressing his constitutional claims directly. The court argued that it could not enforce its ruling even if it found in favor of Giles because there was no practical way to do so; they couldn't force registrars to register voters or compel states to re-write their constitutions. This decision effectively upheld Southern states' disenfranchisement laws which were designed specifically with loopholes like literacy tests and grandfather clauses that disproportionately affected African Americans while appearing race-neutral on paper.

In the dissenting opinion for Giles v. Harris, Justice John Marshall Harlan argued that the majority's decision to dismiss Billie Giles' case was a failure of justice. He contended that if allegations made by Giles were true - namely, that Alabama had systematically denied African Americans their right to vote through discriminatory practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests - then it was incumbent upon the federal courts to intervene. Harlan believed this denial of voting rights violated both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution. He criticized his colleagues for avoiding their duty under these amendments by claiming they lacked jurisdiction or power in this matter; he asserted instead that they did have sufficient authority but chose not to exercise it due to political considerations or fear of backlash from Southern states.