The 13th Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865 and led to the abolishment of slavery throughout the Union. Even with the end of slavery, the Supreme Court would have to encounter cases where certain laws or actions by the government would violate the amendment.

A major case that exemplified a challenge against a law that was charged with violating the 13th Amendment is Butler v. Perry. Florida passed a law which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to work up to 60 hours to maintain the public road system. The plaintiff failed to adhere to the state law and didn't work to maintain the public roads. As a result, the plaintiff was arrested for violating the law. He argued that the law essentially amounted to involuntary servitude by the state government. The Supreme Court rejected the argument and stated that the purpose of the 13th Amendment was to cover those types of compulsory labor that individuals of African descent dealt with in the history of the United States.

The 1968 case Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. provided another legal challenge on the grounds of involuntary solitude. A developer working for the Alfred H. Mayer Company refused to sell a house to Joseph Jones because he was black. As a result, Jones sued under the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which required individuals to not be discriminated in private housing under Congress's power in the 13th Amendment. The court agreed as the justices reasoned that the private housing discrimination based on race would amount to a "badge of slavery" and thus fall under Congress's power under the 13th Amendment's power to regulate.

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court's ruling in Memphis v. Greene which challenged the closing of a road that separated an all-white neighborhood to a predominantly black neighborhood. The Supreme Court reasoned that the loss of property value and inconvenience to the residents of the area didn't fall as a "badge of slavery" nor applicable under the 1866 Civil Rights Act.