| Smith v. Allwright | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reargued January 12, 1944 Decided April 3, 1944 | |
| Full case name | Smith v. Allwright, Election Judge, et al. |
| Citations | 321 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 | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Reed, joined by Stone, Black, Douglas, Murphy, Jackson, Rutledge |
| Concurrence | Frankfurter (in judgment) |
| Dissent | Roberts |
| 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.