Yick Wo v. Hopkins

San Francisco required laundry operators in wooden buildings to obtain a permit to continue operating, though most of the city's laundries were made of wood. Yick Wo and Wo Lee (defendants), Chinese laundry operators, along with over 200 other Chinese-descent operators, sought permits; all but one were denied. Meanwhile, 80 of 81 similarly situated non-Chinese operators received permits. Yick Wo and Wo Lee were fined and imprisoned for operating without permits, and their state-court and federal habeas challenges both failed before reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

Whether a facially neutral law that is applied in a discriminatory manner on the basis of race or nationality violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.