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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.
It came closest to passage during World War II, when opponents framed abolition as a means to help overseas soldiers vote. However, after learning that the U.S. Supreme Court decision Smith v. Allwright (1944) banned the use of "white primary", the Southern block refused to approve abolition of the poll tax. [8]
Roberts dissented bitterly in the 1944 case of Smith v. Allwright, which found the white primary unconstitutional and overruled an opinion that had been written by Roberts himself a mere nine years earlier. He coined in that dissent the oft-quoted phrase that the frequent overruling of decisions "tends to bring adjudications of this tribunal ...
Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60 (1942) A defense lawyer's conflict of interest arising from a simultaneous representation of codefendants violates the Assistance of Counsel Clause of the Sixth Amendment. Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455 (1942) Indigent defendants may be denied counsel when prosecuted by a state.
In Grovey v. Townsend (1935), the Supreme Court ruled that this practice was constitutional, as it was administered by the Democratic Party, which legally was a private institution, not a state institution. In 1944, however, in Smith v. Allwright, the Supreme Court ruled 8–1 against the Texas white primary system. [7]
In April 1944, Smith v. Allwright ruled the white primary upon which the politics of most Confederate states was based unconstitutional. However, Tennessee’s history of substantial mountain Republican opposition meant it, like Oklahoma , North Carolina and Virginia , lacked statewide white primaries, although certain counties did use the ...
During Arnall's term, the state legislature lengthened his term to four years and prohibited him from seeking re-election in 1946. Talmadge ran for governor and used the Smith v. Allwright decision, ruling that the closed white primary was unconstitutional, as his main red flag issue. Talmadge promised that if he were to be elected, he would ...
In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Smith v. Allwright against white primary systems, and most Southern states ended their racially discriminatory primary elections. [ 56 ] They retained other techniques of disenfranchisement, such as poll taxes and literacy tests , which in theory applied to all potential voters, but in practice were ...