The Court's decision in this was seen as trailblazing it struck down legislation aimed at closing Chineseoperated laundries in San Francisco. The Chinese Exclusion Act was approved on May 6, 1882.It was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Many cases were based on the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee that all persons, not only citizens, enjoy the equal protection of the law. All persons lawfully in this country shall abide 'in any state' on an equality of legal privileges with all citizens under nondiscriminatory laws. Many cases were based on the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee that all persons, not only citizens, enjoy the equal protection of the law. Tion of Hawaii in 1898, all indentured labor contracts in the Islands had been automatically abrogated, thus liberating thousands of Asi- atic peons. Many cases were based on the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee that all persons, not only citizens, enjoy the equal protection of the law. Some legal scholars have suggested Section 3 could be applied to the former president using the same arguments as in the Reconstruction Era. Waite replied: I think your mem.