Editing Smith v. Allwright (section)

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox SCOTUS case
| Litigants = Smith v. Allwright
| ArgueDate = 
| ArgueYear = 
| ReargueDate = January 12
| ReargueYear = 1944
| DecideDate = April 3
| DecideYear = 1944
| FullName = Smith v. Allwright, Election Judge, et al.
| USVol = 321
| USPage = 649
| ParallelCitations = 64 S. Ct. 757; 88 [[L. Ed.]] 987
| Docket = 
| OralArgument = 
| OralReargument = 
| OpinionAnnouncement = 
| Prior = 
| Subsequent = 
| Holding = States may not permit or conduct race-based primary elections and must be open to voters of all races.
| SCOTUS = 
| Majority = Reed
| JoinMajority = Stone, Black, Douglas, Murphy, Jackson, Rutledge
| Concurrence = Frankfurter (in judgment)
| JoinConcurrence = 
| Concurrence2 = 
| JoinConcurrence2 = 
| Concurrence/Dissent = 
| JoinConcurrence/Dissent = 
| Dissent = Roberts
| JoinDissent = 
| Dissent2 = 
| JoinDissent2 = 
| LawsApplied = [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|U.S. Const. amend. XV]]
| Overturned previous case = ''[[Grovey v. Townsend]]'' (1935)
}}

'''''Smith v. Allwright''''', 321 U.S. 649 (1944), was a [[List of landmark court decisions in the United States|landmark decision]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] with regard to [[voting rights]] and, by extension, racial [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]]. It overturned the Texas state law that authorized parties to set their internal rules, including the use of [[white primaries]]. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the state to delegate its authority over elections to parties in order to allow discrimination to be practiced. This ruling affected all other states where the party used the white primary rule.

The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] had effectively excluded minority voter participation by this means, another device for legal [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement]] of blacks across the South beginning in the late 19th century.