Even more disconcerting was the adverse decision of the Supreme Court on the Myra Bradwell case, which at once shattered the confidence of most of her legal advisors. The court held that Illinois had violated no provision of the federal Constitution in refusing to allow Myra Bradwell to practice law because she was a woman and declared that the right to practice law in state courts is not a privilege or an immunity of a citizen of the United States, nor is the power of a state to prescribe qualifications for admission to the bar affected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, filing a dissenting opinion, lived up to Susan's faith in him, but Benjamin Butler wrote her, "I do not believe anybody in Congress doubts that the Constitution authorizes the right of women to vote, precisely as it authorizes trial by jury and many other like rights guaranteed to citizens. But the difficulty is, the courts long since decided that the constitutional provisions do not act upon the citizens, except as guarantees, ex proprio vigore, and in order to give force to them there must be legislation.... Therefore, the point is for the friends of woman suffrage to get congressional legislation."[303] Susan, however, never wavered in her conviction that she as a citizen had a constitutional right to vote and that it was her duty to test this right in the courts. FOOTNOTES: [288] Ray Strachey, _Struggle_ (New York, 1930), pp. 113-116. [289] The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision of a lower court that without specific legislation by Congress, the 14th Amendment could not overrule the law of the District of Columbia which limited suffrage to male citizens over 21. _History of Woman Suffrage_, II, pp. 587-601. [290] Harper, _Anthony_, I, p. 423. [291] Nov. 5, 1872, Ida Husted Harper Collection, Henry E. Huntington Library. Miss Anthony had assured the election inspectors that she would pay the cost of any suit which might be brought against them for accepting women's votes. [292] Harper, _Anthony_, I, p. 426. The Anthony home was then numbered 7 Madison Street. [293] _An Account of the Proceedings of the Trial of Susan B. Anthony on the Charge of Illegal Voting_ (Rochester, New York, 1874), p. 16. [294] Harper, _Anthony_, I, p. 428. [295] _Ibid._, p. 433. [296] _Trial_, pp. 2-3. [297] N.d., Susan B. Anthony Papers, New York Public Library. [298] _Trial_, pp. 151, 153. Judge Story, _Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States_, Sec. 456: "The importance of examining the preamble for the purpose of expounding the language of a statute has long been felt and universally conceded in all juridical discussion." _History of Woman Suffrage_, II, p. 477. [299] Harper, _Anthony_, II, pp. 978, 986-987. [300] Ms., Diary, May 10, June 7, 1873.