Ray, Chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee of Alabama, v. Blair (343 U.S. 214)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 15, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 343 U.S. 214 · 72 S. Ct. 654
- Decided
- April 15, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 5–2
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court. The Supreme Court of Alabama upheld a peremptory writ of mandamus requiring the petitioner, the chairman of that state’s Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, to certify respondent Edmund Blair, a member of that party, to the Secretary of State of Alabama as a candidate for Presidential Elector in the Democratic Primary to be held May 6,1952. Respondent Blair was admittedly qualified as a candidate except that he refused to include the following quoted words in the pledge required of party candidates — a pledge to aid and support “the nominees of the National Convention of the Democratic Party for President and Vice-President of the United States.” The chairman’s refusal of certification was based on that omission. The mandamus was approved on the sole ground that the above requirement restricted the freedom of a federal elector to vote in his Electoral College for his choice for President. 257 Ala. -, 57 So. 2d 395. The pledge was held void as unconstitutional under the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Because the mandamus was based on this federal right specially-claimed by respondent, we granted certiorari. 28 U. S. C. § 1257 (3); 343 U. S. 901. On account of the limited time before the primary election date, this Court ordered prompt argument on March 31, 1952, after granting certiorari…
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