United States v. Classic
United States v. Classic is a significant Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of federal oversight in primary elections. This case emerged as a response to allegations against a Louisiana election commissioner who was accused of manipulating ballots during a congressional primary. The Supreme Court, in a decision led by Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, ruled in a 5-3 majority that the federal government holds the authority to regulate primary elections under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, particularly when those elections affect congressional outcomes. This ruling partially overturned previous precedents, such as Newberry v. United States, which had limited federal intervention in party primaries. The Classic decision laid the groundwork for the landmark 1944 case Smith v. Allwright, which further addressed issues of racial discrimination in voting. As such, United States v. Classic plays a crucial role in understanding the evolution of electoral law and the protection of voting rights in the United States.
United States v. Classic
Date: May 26, 1941
Citation: 313 U.S. 299
Issue: White primaries
Significance: Overturning its 1921 decision, the Supreme Court held that Congress has the power to regulate primaries whenever state law makes them an integral part of the process for electing candidates to federal office.
The precedent set in Newberry v. United States (1921), which prevented Congress from regulating party primaries, was one of the foundation blocks for the whites-only primaries of the South. The Supreme Court partially overruled Newberry in the Classic case, which involved charges against a Louisiana election commissioner for deliberately changing the ballots in a congressional primary. Speaking for a 5-3 majority, Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone ruled that the federal government, based on Article I of the U.S. Constitution, had the right to ensure the integrity of primary elections if they had a clear relationship to the determination of who would be elected to Congress. Classic prepared the way for the landmark case Smith v. Allwright (1944).
