In City of Lexington v. Butler, the Supreme Court of the United States was asked to decide whether a city ordinance that required African Americans to pay a fee for the privilege of living in the city was constitutional. The ordinance was challenged by a group of African Americans who argued that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court held that the ordinance was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause. The Court reasoned that the ordinance was not based on any rational basis and was instead based on race. The Court also noted that the ordinance was not necessary to protect the public health or safety, and that it was instead a form of racial discrimination. The Court's decision in City of Lexington v. Butler was an important victory for civil rights advocates. It established that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment could be used to challenge laws that discriminated on the basis of race. This decision was a major step forward in the fight for civil rights and helped to pave the way for future civil rights victories.

In the case of City of Lexington v. Butler, the Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether a Kentucky statute that required African Americans to pay an annual fee for permission to live and work in certain cities violated the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition against involuntary servitude. The majority opinion held that it did not violate this amendment because it was merely a tax imposed on all citizens regardless of race or color. However, Justice Field dissented from this decision, arguing that while taxes are generally permissible under the Constitution, they must be applied equally among all citizens without regard to race or color; thus, he argued that by singling out African Americans for taxation based solely on their race and status as freedmen constituted an unconstitutional form of involuntary servitude prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment. He further argued that even if such laws were constitutional when enacted prior to ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment (as some states had done), they could no longer be enforced after its adoption due to its clear language prohibiting any form of slavery or involuntary servitude in any state within United States jurisdiction.