The Day the Territorial Supreme Court Killed Women's Suffrage in Washington
In a landmark test case from May 1902, Judge Sash ruled that the Organic Act of Washington Territory only granted voting rights to males, effectively striking down local efforts to enfranchise women.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
TWO RIVERS, W.T., May 21.—The question of woman suffrage was before Judge Sash today on a test case. He decided the act unconstitutional in delivering his opinion.
I had intended to write an opinion in this case, but as the decision will probably be reviewed by higher court, I will only say, in a general way, that the federal congress, in legislation on the question of the Territories, and in granting the right to them by the organic act to woman suffrage, had all the time in view males only, and has at all times, by every reasonable implication, excluded females, both occupying and holding office.
I regard this as the all controlling point. 'A similar principle has been decided in Massachusetts, too, passing on the question of the admission of women to practice law. They are, to that state, undoubtedly citizens, but not contemplated as such by the law when made conferring the right upon citizens to practice law.
'No, sir, in the Dred Scott decision. Scott was a native born American, but the supreme court of the United States held that he was not a man within the meaning of the constitution of the United States.
'There are other kindred cases. All the legislation of congress on the subject of suffrage refers to males only, and excludes females. The atmosphere and ideas that surround a legislative body at the time a law is made is supposed to permeate and enter into the law, and remain with it until changed. So much how much public opinion may change on the subject, public opinion does not change the law. It must be contrary by the intention of the law makers as it existed at the time of making the law.
'There are other points. For instance, the proviso attached to the law in connection with the organic act; but the main point is as above stated. I have never yet heard the most fanatical advocate of woman suffrage but what is forced to admit that congress now and always has been opposed to woman suffrage. As an illustration, when our supreme court decided the act unconstitutional the first time, congress was appealed to to validate the act, and refused.
'In conclusion, and as a summary of the whole question, the organic act does not confer power upon the legislature to confer suffrage on women. It was not so intended by the law makers who framed the act.'
This 1902 ruling highlights how local victories for women's rights were often blocked by federal interpretations of territorial law, a struggle that persisted until the 19th Amendment. The judge’s reliance on the 'Dred Scott' logic to exclude women from citizenship privileges underscores the deep legal entrenchment of gender inequality in American jurisprudence.
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