United States v. Mississippi

Background

The Attorney General sued the State of Mississippi, three members of the State Board of Election Commissioners, and six county registrars. The complaint said Mississippi laws and practices dating from an 1890 constitution, later amendments, and 1960s statutes used literacy tests, subjective “good moral character” rules, record changes, and other devices to prevent Black citizens from registering to vote. The District Court dismissed the case, and the United States appealed to this Court.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether the Attorney General could bring this suit and whether the State and local election officials could be defendants. Relying on the federal voting statute (42 U.S.C. §1971) and the Fifteenth Amendment, the Court held the United States was authorized to seek preventive relief, that the State could be joined as a defendant, and that the election board members and registrars were proper parties. The Court emphasized that the complaint’s factual allegations must be taken as true at the pleading stage and concluded the complaint should not have been dismissed without a trial.

Real world impact

The ruling reopens a path for federal court review of long-standing state registration rules alleged to have been designed to exclude Black voters. It allows the Government to seek injunctions and other relief against discriminatory tests, record-destruction practices, and officials who apply the rules in a racially selective way. Because the Court reversed only the dismissal, the case will proceed to trial for fact-finding and final remedies.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Harlan agreed with the outcome but said the constitutional conclusions should rest only on the Fifteenth Amendment; otherwise he joined the opinion.