Smith v. Allwright

Justice Reed delivered the decision of the Court, which voted 8-1 to reverse the lower court rulings and compel the Texas Democratic Party to allow Mr. Smith to cast his primary ballot. In its decision, the Court expressly abandoned the position it adopted in Grovey. The Court reasoned that since the Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to vote, and given the vital nature of participation in primary elections in light of the virtual one party system operating in the South, primary elections must come under federal jurisdiction and constitutional scrutiny. Furthermore, the state was so intimately involved in the regulation of political parties as to make the parties indistinguishable from many state institutions. This ruling also extended the conclusion reached in Classic, that some private organizations can have functions of such public import as to render them liable to legal definition as public institutions, thereby making them subject to federal jurisdiction.