Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections
Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections is a significant Supreme Court case that addressed the legality of literacy tests for voters. The case involved an African American voter challenging a state literacy test that applied to all races. The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, upheld the use of literacy tests, emphasizing that states have considerable authority in establishing voting qualifications. Justice William O. Douglas articulated that the Court did not find evidence that the tests were applied with a discriminatory intent against minority voters.
This ruling raised concerns about the impact on African American voting rights, particularly in the context of the broader civil rights movement. It appeared to clash with the goals of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, which sought to eliminate such barriers to voting. Subsequent cases, such as South Carolina v. Katzenbach, would further explore the necessity of federal intervention to protect voting rights in states with a history of discrimination. The Lassiter decision thus serves as a pivotal moment in understanding the legal landscape surrounding suffrage and the ongoing struggle for equitable voting access in America.
Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections
Date: June 8, 1959
Citation: 360 U.S. 45
Issue: Right to vote
Significance: The Supreme Court upheld the states’ right to impose literacy tests for voting.
An African American challenged a state literacy test that applied to voters of all races. The Supreme Court did not infer that the test was being used to discriminate against minorities and unanimously upheld the state law. In his opinion for the Court, Justice William O. Douglas wrote that states had wide latitude in passing laws establishing conditions for suffrage. This decision would seem to have stood in the way of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, which dispatched federal registrars to southern states that often had used literacy tests as a way to prevent African Americans from voting. The Court avoided that problem by asserting in South Carolina v. Katzenbach (1966) that the pattern of segregation justified special measures under the Fifteenth Amendment.
