Smith v. Allwright

Smith v. Allwright
Supreme Court of the United States
Reargued January 12, 1944 Decided April 3, 1944
Full case name	Smith v. Allwright, Election Judge, et al.
Citations	321 U.S. 649 (more)
Holding
Primary elections must be open to voters of all races.
Court membership
Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone Associate Justices Owen J. Roberts · Hugo Black Stanley F. Reed · Felix Frankfurter William O. Douglas · Frank Murphy Robert H. Jackson · Wiley B. Rutledge
Case opinions
Majority	Reed, joined by Stone, Black, Douglas, Murphy, Jackson, Rutledge
Concurrence	Frankfurter (in the judgment of the court only)
Dissent	Roberts

Smith v. Allwright (1944), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court.^[1] The decision made it unconstitutional to keep African Americans from voting in a Democratic Party primary in Texas.^[2] By extension it covered white primaries in all states. It overturned Grovey v. Townsend (1935) which had allowed the Democratic party to hold all-white primaries that excluded black voters.

1. ↑ "Landmark: Smith v. Allwright". NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
2. ↑ "Smith vs. Allwright: white primaries". The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 24 April 2015.