Terry et al. v. Adams et al. (345 U.S. 461)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 4, 1953 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 345 U.S. 461 · 73 S. Ct. 809
- Decided
- May 4, 1953
- Term
- October Term 1952
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Black announced the judgment of the Court and an opinion in which Mr. Justice Douglas and Mr. Justice Burton join. In Smith v. Allwright, 321 U. S. 649, we held that rules of the Democratic Party of Texas excluding Negroes from voting in the party’s primaries violated the Fifteenth Amendment. While no state law directed such exclusion, our decision pointed out that many party activities were subject to considerable statutory control. This case raises questions concerning the constitutional power of a Texas county political organization called the Jaybird Democratic Association or Jaybird Party to exclude Negroes from its primaries on racial grounds. The Jaybirds deny that their racial exclusions violate the Fifteenth Amendment. They contend that the Amendment applies only to elections or primaries held under state regulation, that their association is not regulated by the state at all, and that it is not a political party but a self-governing voluntary club. The District Court held the Jaybird racial discriminations invalid and entered judgment accordingly. 90 F. Supp. 595. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that there was no constitutional or congressional bar to the admitted discriminatory exclusion of Negroes because Jaybird’s primaries were not to any extent state controlled. 193 F. 2d 600. We granted certiorari. 344 U. S. 883. There was evidence that: The…
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