Lassiter v. Northampton County Bd. of Elections

Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections, 360 U.S. 45 (1959), was a case challenging the constitutionality of literacy tests, appealed from the Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Ruling

The opinion of the court, delivered by Justice Douglas, held in the that provided the tests were applied equally to all races, were not "merely a device to make racial discrimination easy", and did not "not contravene any restriction that Congress, acting pursuant to its constitutional powers, has imposed", then it could be an allowable use of the State's power to "determine the conditions under which the right of suffrage may be exercised".[1]

Congress subsequently prohibited such tests with the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

References

  1. ^ Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections, 360 U.S. 45 (1959). Findlaw.com; retrieved 2010-12-07.