The Civil Rights Cases framed post-slavery discrimination as outside the badge of slavery concept.

Evidence

Thus, discrimination against black Americans, recently freed or not, was declared legal and therefore not worthy of compensation. The Supreme Court held that under the Thirteenth Amendment, Congress was powerless to prevent it. As the majority ruling explained: “It would be running the slavery argument into the ground to make it apply to every act of discrimination which a person may see fit to make as to the guests he will entertain, or as to the people he will take into his coach or cab or car, or admit to his concert or theater, or deal with in other matters of intercourse or business.” By that logic, ending slavery had been enough, and black people should be grateful and stop complaining and being overly sensitive. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 378