│ │ │ jurisdiction │ │ │ │ the equal │ │ │ │ protection of│ │ │ │ the laws. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │To abridge the│ │ │ │ voting rights│ │ │ │ of citizens │ │ │ │ on │ │ │ │ account of │ │ │ │ race, color, │ │ │ │ previous │ │ │ │ condition of │ │ │ │ servitude, or│ │ │ │ sex. │ │ │--------------│--------------│ │ │To pass any bill of attainder│ │ │ or _ex post facto_ law. To │ │ │ grant letters of nobility. │ │ │ To levy duties on exports. │ ══════════════╧══════════════╧═════════════════════════════╧══════════════ Footnote 99: A wide range of authority is included, for example, within the term “police power”, which is the power of the state to take measures for protecting the safety, health, and morals of the people. Footnote 100: Any member of the legislature may introduce a bill, but not many of them know how to draft one properly. That is not surprising, for state legislatures are not made up of lawyers alone but of farmers, shop-keepers, and other plain citizens who have had no previous experience in lawmaking. In order to help the members of the legislature some states have established _legislative reference bureaus_ in charge of expert bill-drafters. These bureaus keep on file all the latest information concerning what is being done in other states, including copies of laws which have been passed there. At the request of any member the bureau officials will prepare a bill embodying the member’s ideas. Footnote 101: A good deal of the trouble is due to party leaders and to lobbyists who plague the members into voting for measures or against them. Lobbyists are paid agents of corporations, labor organizations, women’s leagues, reform associations, granges, and so on, who hang around the lobby and argue with the legislators, trying to influence their action by persuasion or threats as may seem likely to be most effective. At any state capitol one may count these lobbyists by the dozen. Footnote 102: In New York State the Supreme Court, paradoxically, is not supreme. Final authority among the state courts rests with a still higher court, known as the Court of Appeals. Footnote 103: