Smith v. Allwright

Smith v. Allwright
Reargued January 12, 1944
Decided April 3, 1944
Full case nameSmith v. Allwright, Election Judge, et al.
Citations321 U.S. 649 (more)
64 S. Ct. 757; 88 L. Ed. 987
Holding
States may not permit or conduct race-based primary elections and must be open to voters of all races.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Harlan F. Stone
Associate Justices
Owen Roberts · Hugo Black
Stanley F. Reed · Felix Frankfurter
William O. Douglas · Frank Murphy
Robert H. Jackson · Wiley B. Rutledge
Case opinions
MajorityReed, joined by Stone, Black, Douglas, Murphy, Jackson, Rutledge
ConcurrenceFrankfurter (in judgment)
DissentRoberts
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XV
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
Grovey v. Townsend (1935)

Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Texas state law that authorized parties to set their internal rules, including the use of white primaries. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the state to delegate its authority over elections to parties in order to allow discrimination to be practiced. This ruling affected all other states where the party used the white primary rule.

The Democratic Party had effectively excluded minority voter participation by this means, another device for legal disenfranchisement of blacks across the South beginning in the late 19th century.