Which Supreme Court decision held that a discriminatory practice in primary elections (the White Primary) is unconstitutional?

• A. Smith v. Allwright
• B. Gomillion v. Lightfoot
• C. Harper v. Board of Elections
• D. Brown v. Board of Education

Answer: (A)

Discriminatory practices in the voting process violate the Fifteenth Amendment when they affect who can participate in elections. Smith v. Allwright held that a whites-only primary is unconstitutional because the primary is part of the electoral process, and the state cannot permit racial discrimination in administering elections. The decision overruled the idea that a political party could privately run a discriminatory primary without state accountability, since the state’s power to regulate elections makes such discrimination unconstitutional. This ruling effectively ended the white primary in the South, opening those primaries to Black voters and reinforcing that voting rights protections apply to the entire electoral process, not just the general election. The other cases involve different civil rights issues—racial gerrymandering, voting procedures and registration, or school segregation—so they don’t address the illegality of the whites-only primary in the same way.