<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> United States Supreme Court cases </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (1968) Saint Francis College v. al - Khazraji (1987) Domino's Pizza, Inc. v. McDonald (2006) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14 Stat. 27 - 30, enacted April 9, 1866, was the first United States federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law . It was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of persons of African descent born in or brought to the U.S., in the wake of the American Civil War . This legislation was enacted by Congress in 1865 but vetoed by President Andrew Johnson . In April 1866 Congress again passed the bill to support the Thirteenth Amendment . Although Johnson again vetoed it, a two - thirds majority in each chamber overcame the veto and the bill therefore became law . </P> <P> John Bingham and some other congressmen argued that Congress did not yet have sufficient constitutional power to enact this law . Following passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, Congress reenacted the 1866 Act in 1871 . </P>

When was the civil rights act of 1866 passed