Adams v. Terry, No. 13328.
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | HUTCHESON, , and HOLMES and STRUM, Circuit |
| Citation | 193 F.2d 600 |
| Parties | ADAMS et al. v. TERRY et al. |
| Docket Number | No. 13328. |
| Decision Date | 20 February 1952 |
193 F.2d 600 (1952)
ADAMS et al.
v.
TERRY et al.
No. 13328.
United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.
January 11, 1952.
Rehearing Denied February 20, 1952.
E. E. Townes, Edgar E. Townes, Jr. and Clarence I. McFarlane, Houston, Tex., for appellants.
J. Edwin Smith, Houston, Tex., for appellees.
Before HUTCHESON, Chief Judge, and HOLMES and STRUM, Circuit Judges.
HUTCHESON, Chief Judge.
Brought March 16, 1950, as a class action against defendants, sued individually and as members of the Jaybird Party, the suit was for a declaratory judgment as to the
Grounded on the claim, put forward and sustained in Perry v. Cyphers, 5 Cir., 186 F.2d 608, as to the defendants in that suit: that the defendants in this suit are representatives of a political party operating under, and controlled by, art. 3163, Rev. Civil Statutes of Texas, V.A.T.S. Election Code, art. 231; that they exclude negroes from participating in the primaries conducted by them in the name of the Jaybird Party; and that, in doing so, they acted under color of state law; the case is in sharp focus.
Specifically stated, the claim in this suit was: (1) that the defendants were officers of a political party in Fort Bend County, Texas, commonly known as the Jaybird Party, having no state organization and nominating for county and precinct offices only; (2) that the Texas statutes have made the primaries of political parties, without a state organization and which nominate for county and precinct offices only, an integral part of the procedure of choice of precinct and county officials and representatives; (3) that endorsement in the primaries of the Jaybird Party in effect controls the choice of precinct and county officials by determining, first, the nomination in the primaries of the Democratic party for precinct and county officials, and, next, the election of these nominees in the general election; (4) that for many years the officers of the Jaybird party have, on the sole distinction of race or color, denied the plaintiffs and others like situated the right and privilege of voting in its primaries; (5) that the official governing body of the Jaybird party announced in February, 1950, that members of the negro race would not be allowed to vote in the forthcoming primaries scheduled for May 6, and June 3; and (6) that this action was in violation of the Constitution of the United States, Amendments Fourteen, Sec. 1, and Fifteen, Sec. 1, and of the provisions of the Elective Franchise Statute, 8 U.S.C.A. § 31, and the Civil Rights Statute, 8 U.S. C.A. §§ 43 and 47.
Defendants moved to dismiss on the grounds: (1) that they are not representatives of, they do not know, and have never had anything to do with, the Jaybird party; (2) that they are not officers of a political party existing in Fort Bend County, without a state organization and which nominates for county and precinct offices only, as described and dealt with in art. 3163 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas; and (3) that they have never operated nor attempted to operate under, or in compliance or in liaison with, art. 3163 or any other state law governing elections.
For answer they alleged, and it was later in effect stipulated: (1) that they are officers of a private unincorporated organization, the Jaybird Democratic Association of Fort Bend County; (2) that it has never become in anywise related to or connected with the electoral Machinery of the State as a process or part thereof, and it is not, and never has been, an integral part of that machinery; (4) that the persons endorsed by it in its preference primaries are not in any way certified to the Democratic Primary, nor do they run in that primary under any symbol or nomenclature or with any status except that of an individual; (5) that it does from time to time, by the use of a straw ballot having no official meaning or legal sanction, take the opinion of the membership of the association, the qualified white voters of county and precincts as to whom they should endorse; and (6) that it does request such persons as may be endorsed in the balloting, to individually apply for positions on the ballot in the official primary, the July primary of the Democratic party, but it has no power to compel them to comply with the request, and they make their application and appearance on the Democratic primary ballot after complying with all of the requirements of the Democratic party for a place thereon as individuals under no symbol or nomenclature whatever indicating that they are members of, or endorsed by, the association.
The case coming to trial, and there being no dispute as to the facts, plaintiffs put in evidence a lengthy and complete stipulation as to the facts and also put two of the defendants
Plaintiffs having rested, the defendants offered one witness, not to contradict, but to confirm and elaborate upon, the stipulation offered by plaintiffs, and a stipulation offered by defendants. This latter contained a statement: (1) as to the conditions in the county which brought about the organization in 1889 of the association; (2) that for a period it had determined the preference of its members at mass meetings, and "later the method was changed to a ballot voting system paralleling in general form and intent the system set up by state law for political party government"; and (3) that, with the announcement of the selection of the candidate preferred by the association, its connection ceased, and the news of the results of the voting was spread by word of mouth, newspapers, etc.
The district judge found: that the main and primary purpose of the organization is to enable the white voters of Fort Bend County to select and elect the county and precinct officers of Fort Bend County and to deny the negro voters any voice or part therein; and that, though the association does not conform to a single requirement of Art. 3163, it is a political party coming clearly within the terms of that article. Of the opinion that the case was ruled by the South Carolina cases, Rice v. Elmore, 4 Cir., 165 F.2d 387 and Baskin v. Brown, 4 Cir., 174 F.2d 391, and by his opinion in White v. County Democratic Executive Committee, D.C., 60 F.2d 973, he gave a judgment for plaintiffs, declaring that they "and all others similarly situated are legally entitled to vote in the Jaybird primary or primaries held by the Jaybird Democratic Association of Fort Bend County, and specifically those primaries to be held" May 6, 1950, and June 3, 1950. Because, however, plaintiffs had waived their claims for damages and because he thought that, for the reasons given in his opinion, the defendants were not in a position to control the association, no judgment either for damages or an injunction was ordered.
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Dyer v. Kazuhisa Abe, Civ. No. 1435.
...124 F.Supp. 290, affirmed, 5 Cir., 1955, 223 F.2d 93; Terry v. Adams, D.C.S.D.Tex. 1950, 90 F.Supp. 595, reversed, 5 Cir., 1952, 193 F.2d 600, affirmed, 1953, 345 U.S. 461, 73 S.Ct. 809, 97 L.Ed. 1152; Schatte v. International Alliance, etc., D. C.S.D.Cal.1947, 70 F.Supp. 1008, affirmed per......
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Terry v. Adams, No. 52
...congressional bar to the admitted discriminatory exclusion of Negroes because Jaybird's primaries were not to any extent state controlled. 193 F.2d 600. We granted certiorari. 344 U.S. 883, 73 S.Ct. 180. There was evidence that: The Jaybird Association or Party was organized in 1889. Its me......
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Whittington v. Johnston, No. 14051.
...McGuire v. Todd, 5 Cir., 198 F.2d 60, the latter against city officers. See also note, 13 A.L.R.2d 390, 471, and Adams v. Terry, 5 Cir., 193 F.2d 600, 605, second column; Taylor v. Smith, 7 Cir., 167 F.2d 797, 12 A.L.R.2d 1; note 14 A.L.R. 2d text page 1100 et 1 It may be noted that the cri......
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McClendon v. Straub, No. 13748.
...it orders the property sold for division should be vacated so as to afford an opportunity for such administrator either to intervene or to 193 F.2d 600 be joined as a party defendant and thereby to permit the property to be sold free from the possibility of being liable for the debts of the......
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Dyer v. Kazuhisa Abe, Civ. No. 1435.
...124 F.Supp. 290, affirmed, 5 Cir., 1955, 223 F.2d 93; Terry v. Adams, D.C.S.D.Tex. 1950, 90 F.Supp. 595, reversed, 5 Cir., 1952, 193 F.2d 600, affirmed, 1953, 345 U.S. 461, 73 S.Ct. 809, 97 L.Ed. 1152; Schatte v. International Alliance, etc., D. C.S.D.Cal.1947, 70 F.Supp. 1008, affirmed per......
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Terry v. Adams, No. 52
...congressional bar to the admitted discriminatory exclusion of Negroes because Jaybird's primaries were not to any extent state controlled. 193 F.2d 600. We granted certiorari. 344 U.S. 883, 73 S.Ct. 180. There was evidence that: The Jaybird Association or Party was organized in 1889. Its me......
-
Whittington v. Johnston, No. 14051.
...McGuire v. Todd, 5 Cir., 198 F.2d 60, the latter against city officers. See also note, 13 A.L.R.2d 390, 471, and Adams v. Terry, 5 Cir., 193 F.2d 600, 605, second column; Taylor v. Smith, 7 Cir., 167 F.2d 797, 12 A.L.R.2d 1; note 14 A.L.R. 2d text page 1100 et 1 It may be noted that the cri......
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McClendon v. Straub, No. 13748.
...it orders the property sold for division should be vacated so as to afford an opportunity for such administrator either to intervene or to 193 F.2d 600 be joined as a party defendant and thereby to permit the property to be sold free from the possibility of being liable for the debts of the......