Williams v. Mississippi

Williams v. Mississippi, 170 U.S. 213 (1898) is a Supreme Court case (1898) that reviewed state legislation restricting voter registration. The Supreme Court did not find discrimination in the state's requirements for voters to pass a literacy test and pay poll tzxes, as these were applied to all voters.

In practice, the subjective nature of literacy approval by white registrars worked to drastically decrease and essentially disfranchise African American voters.

Also considered a new Mississippi constitution that had been passed in 1890. It upheld disenfranchisement clauses, literacy tests, poll taxes paid retroactively from one's 21st birthday, and the grandfather clause, on the basis that they did not particularly discriminate against blacks.

With disfranchisement of blacks, the Republican Party was routed in the South. The elite white Democrats established one-party government in Mississippi and other former Confederate states. State Democratic primaries, which provided the only competition for office, were restricted to white voters for many years.

Facts

The plaintiff, Henry Williams, had been indicted for murder by an all-white grand jury and convicted by an all-white petit jury and sentenced to be hanged.

Issue

Williams's counsel contended that under the Fourteenth Amendment, the state constitution discriminated against former slaves by giving unbridled discretion to election officers, who ruled on payment of poll taxes and qualification of electors for literacy and understanding to be registered to vote.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 170

• 170 U.S. 213 (Full text of case at Findlaw.com)