The Supreme Court held that the Louisiana statute authorizing a damages award to Decuir unconstitutionally interfered with interstate commerce.

Joseph W. Singer argues that Hall marked the beginning of a phase in Supreme Court jurisprudence that led to Plessy v. Ferguson.

Josephine Decuir née Dubuclet, who was designated a Creole, and her husband Antoine, were members of the Black elite in the antebellum South.

[5] In July 1872, she left New Orleans for Point Coupee to consult the lawyers E. K. Washington and Seymour Snaer regarding her husband's estate.

When Decuir reached the Governor Allen, she was denied access to a first class cabin—they were "specifically set aside for white persons"—and instead sent to the steerage, or second-class, cabins that were poorly ventilated and also known as the "colored department".

[8] John C. Benson died, but Eliza Jane Hall, who was responsible for the execution of his estate, appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

[17] Joseph W. Singer argues that Hall marked the beginning of a phase in Supreme Court jurisprudence that led to Plessy v.

"[13] According to Charles A. Lofgren, the case "federalized" a decision that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had reached in West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad Company v. Miles (1867) and "in a very real sense, constitutionalized it as well".

[4] After World War II, the Supreme Court used the precedent of Hall to declare segregation laws within states unconstitutional as they affected interstate commerce.