Unpacking Smith v. Allwright: The Landmark Supreme Court Case that Advanced Voting Rights in America

Smith v. Allwrite

decided that laws preventing black people from voting in primary elections were unconstitutional

Smith v. Allwright was a landmark case in United States history that challenged the legality of racial discrimination in voting. The case was heard by the Supreme Court in 1944 and involved a challenge to the Texas Democratic Primary. At the time, the state of Texas used a primary election system that allowed political parties to determine who could vote in their primaries. The Democrats used this system to effectively exclude African Americans from primary elections, even though they were allowed to vote in the general election.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Texas Democratic Primary was unconstitutional because it violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The Court held that the Democratic Party’s use of the white primary effectively denied African Americans the right to vote in the only meaningful election in many parts of the state.

With this ruling, the Court set a precedent for other states to strike down similar laws and paved the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which further extended voting rights to African Americans. The Smith v. Allwright case was a crucial moment in the civil rights movement and a landmark decision in the struggle for voting rights.

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