Brown v. Baskin

• Decision Date: 20 July 1948
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 1964.
• Citation: 78 F. Supp. 933
• Parties: BROWN v. BASKIN et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina

78 F. Supp. 933

BROWN v. BASKIN et al.

Civil Action No. 1964.

District Court, E. D. South Carolina, Charleston Division.

July 20, 1948.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Harold R. Boulware, of Columbia, S. C., and Edward R. Dudley, Thurgood Marshall, and Constance Baker Motley, all of New York City, for plaintiff.

Robert McC. Figg, Jr., of Charleston, S. C., Sidney S. Tison, of Bennettsville, S. C., Eugene S. Blease, of Newberry, S. C., George Warren, of Hampton, S. C., Price & Poag and James H. Price all of Greenville, S. C., and Thomas A. Babb, of Laurens, S. C., for defendants.

WARING, District Judge.

The question in this case is whether Negroes have the right to become members of the Democratic Party of the State of South Carolina and to be enrolled, take part in its organization and management, and vote in its primaries.

The action is based upon the alleged rights of the plaintiff under the Constitution of the United States and particularly under Article 1, Sections 2 and 4, and the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Seventeenth Amendments. The jurisdiction of the court is invoked under Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 41 (1, 11, 14), and a declaratory judgment with injunction is prayed for under Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 400. It is alleged that the plaintiff and others in like situation have been deprived of the civil rights guaranteed them under Title 8 U.S.C.A. §§ 31 and 43.

The plaintiff, David Brown, is a Negro, a native-born citizen of the United States, more than 21 years of age and a resident of Beaufort County, South Carolina, where he has resided for more than 50 years prior to August 1948. He alleges that he has paid his poll tax and is a duly and legally qualified elector under the Constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of South Carolina, and is subject to none of the disqualifications provided for voting under the Constitution and laws of the United States or of the State of South Carolina. Plaintiff further states that he is a believer in the tenets of the Democratic Party and meets the lawful requirements for enrollment in the Democratic Party and for voting in the primary conducted by the said Party. And he brings this suit as a class action, as authorized by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure of the District Courts of the United States, Rule 23(a), 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, on behalf of himself and for others similarly situated. The defendant W. P. Baskin is State Chairman of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, and the various other defendants are the members of the State Executive Committee and the Chairmen of the respective County Committees throughout South Carolina (save only the County of Richland, whose officials are omitted from this suit).

The suit is brought by the plaintiff to test the legality of the action of the defendants in not permitting him and other Negroes to enroll as members of the Democratic Party in this State and to exercise their right to participate in primary elections of South Carolina, and he alleges that the defendants are exercising unlawful discrimination in refusing to allow him and others in like plight to exercise their rights and privileges in participating in the selection of Presidential Electors, United States Senators, Congressmen, and other governmental officers.

It is unnecessary to set out here with any elaboration a description of the organization of the Democratic Party, with its conventions, executive committees, and other officials in the State of South Carolina, since all of these are more fully described and set forth in a case involving the question of the right of Negroes to vote in the Democratic Primaries, tried in this court about a year ago. In that case (Elmore v. Rice, D. C., 72 F.Supp. 516, 528) the question arose as to whether the Democratic Party in South Carolina could be restricted to white persons or whether Negroes should be allowed to vote in primaries conducted by such Party. There the plaintiff was a resident of Richland County, and the defendants were the Democratic Chairman and Committeemen in charge of the Party affairs in Richland County. This court decided in that case that

"* * * the present Democratic Party in South Carolina is acting for and on behalf of the people of South Carolina; and that the Primary held by it is the only practical place where one can express a choice in selecting federal and other officials. Racial distinctions cannot exist in the machinery that selects the officers and lawmakers of the United States; and all citizens of this State and Country are entitled to cast a free and untrammelled ballot in our elections, and if the only material and realistic elections are clothed with the name `primary', they are equally entitled to vote there."

The Elmore case was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on December 30, 1947, 165 F.2d 387, and thereafter certiorari was denied, 333 U.S. 875, 68 S.Ct. 905.

On May 19, 1948, the regular convention of the Democratic Party for the State organization was held in Columbia, South Carolina. The delegates to this convention were chosen by County conventions, which had been made up of delegates from precinct or ward organizations, the manner of which is more fully described in the Elmore case. That convention adopted certain rules for the government of the Party in its organization, enrollment, management, and primary elections. It is important to quote certain parts of these rules in order to understand the issues in this cause.

"Qualifications for Club Membership

"6. Qualifications for club membership in any club of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, shall be as follows, viz.: The applicant for membership shall be twenty-one (21) years of age, or shall become so before the succeeding general election, and be a white Democrat, who subscribes to the principles of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, as declared by the State Convention. He shall be a citizen of the United States and of the State of South Carolina, and shall be able to read and write and interpret the Constitution of the State of South Carolina. No person shall belong to any club unless he has been a resident of the State of South Carolina for two (2) years, of the County for six (6) months prior to the succeeding general election, and of the club district sixty (60) days prior to the first primary following his offer to enroll. Provided, that public school teachers, and ministers of the gospel in charge of a regular organized church, shall be exempt from the provisions of this rule as to residence, if otherwise qualified."

"Qualifications for Voting

"7. All duly enrolled club members are entitled to vote in the precinct of their residence, if they take the oath required of voters in the primary; and in conformity with the Order of Judge J. Waites Waring, United States District Judge, in the case of Elmore, etc. v. Rice, et al., all qualified Negro "electors of the State of South Carolina are entitled to vote in the precinct of their residence, if they present their general election certificates and take the oath required of voters in the primary."

"General Enrollment Provisions

"11. Beginning with the year 1948, and every two years thereafter, there shall be a new general enrollment of all club members, and books of enrollment for membership in the Party shall be opened by the secretary of each club, or, by the enrollment committee as hereinafter provided, on or before the last Tuesday in May (see Rule 60) of each general election year.

* * * * * *

"Each applicant for enrollment shall in person write upon the club roll his full name and immediately thereafter his age, occupation and post office address, and if in a city or town, shall write the name of the street and the number of the house in which he resides if such designations exist in said city or town. * * *"

"Original Roll to be Delivered to Managers

"13. The original roll shall be delivered to the managers of the primary before the hour of opening the polls; and no person shall be allowed to vote at said primary whose name does not appear on said original roll as herein required or who is not a qualified elector. * * *"

"State Committee

"18. * * * The State Committee is charged with the execution and direction of the policy of the party of this State, subject to these rules, the principles declared in the platform or principles and such instruction, by resolution or otherwise, as a State convention may from time to time adopt, not inconsistent with these rules, and shall continue in office two years from the time of election or until their successors have been elected.

"* * * The committee shall nominate presidential electors, and if any vacancy occur in the State ticket of electors, or of the National Executive Committee, by death, resignation or other cause, the committee shall have the power to fill the vacancy; all by majority of the whole committee."

Rule No. 35 provides for the managers to take and sign an oath, which is as follows:

"We do solemnly swear that we will conduct this primary according to the rules of the party; and will allow no person to vote whose name is not regularly enrolled in this club, or who is not a qualified Negro elector, and we will not assist any voter to prepare his ballot and will not advise any voter as to how he should vote at this primary."

"Oath to be Taken by Voters

"36. * * * I do solemnly swear that I am a resident of this club district, that I am duly qualified to vote in this primary under the rules of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, and that I have not voted before in this primary, and that I am not disqualified from voting under Section 2267 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, 1942, relating to disqualifying crimes.

"I further solemnly swear that I (understand) believe in and will support the principles of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, and that I believe in and will support the social (religious) and...