345 U.S. 461 (1953)
The Jaybird Democratic Association of Fort Bend County, Texas, was organized in 1889.1 Its membership has always been limited to white people, who become members automatically if their names appear on the official list of county voters.2 The Association is governed by an executive committee with one member from each voting precinct in the county.3
It holds a primary election in May of each election year at which candidates for county offices are selected.4 Expenses of these primaries are paid by assessments on the candidates.5 The candidates chosen in the Jaybird primaries have invariably been nominated in the Democratic primaries held in July and elected to county offices without opposition.6
For more than fifty years the Jaybird primary has been the dominant political group in the county, having endorsed every county-wide official elected since 1889.7 The Democratic primary and the general election have become no more than perfunctory ratifiers of the choice already made in the Jaybird elections.8 Negroes are excluded from the Jaybird primaries.9
The Association's president testified that one purpose of the organization is the specific purpose of excluding negroes from voting.10 The May timing of the Jaybird primary is chosen so that negroes will not have to vote.11 Negro residents of Fort Bend County brought a class action against officials of the Democratic Party of the county and the Jaybird Democratic Association.12 The complaint alleged that the plaintiffs and other Negroes have been denied the right to vote in the county's Democratic primaries because of a conspiracy between the defendants and others to exclude Negroes from participation.13
The District Court found that the Jaybird Association is a political organization or party.14 The majority of white voters generally abide by the results of its primaries.15 The chief object of the Association has always been to deny Negroes any voice or part in the election of Fort Bend County officials.16 It found that the Jaybird primaries are an integral part of the county's elective process.17 The Court of Appeals reversed the District Court's judgment.18 The Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the case.19
Whether the exclusion of Negro citizens from participation in the Jaybird Democratic Association primaries violates the Fifteenth Amendment?20
The Fifteenth Amendment provides that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.21 This protection extends to all elections in which public issues are decided or public officials selected, including primaries that form an integral part of the elective process.22
Yes. The Jaybird Democratic Association of Fort Bend County, Texas, was organized in 1889. Its membership has always been limited to white people, who become members automatically if their names appear on the official list of county voters. The Association is governed by an executive committee with one member from each voting precinct in the county. It holds a primary election in May of each election year at which candidates for county offices are selected. Expenses of these primaries are paid by assessments on the candidates.
The candidates chosen in the Jaybird primaries have invariably been nominated in the Democratic primaries held in July and elected to county offices without opposition. For more than fifty years the Jaybird primary has been the dominant political group in the county, having endorsed every county-wide official elected since 1889. The Democratic primary and the general election have become no more than perfunctory ratifiers of the choice already made in the Jaybird elections. Negroes are excluded from the Jaybird primaries. The Association's president testified that one purpose of the organization is the specific purpose of excluding negroes from voting. The May timing of the Jaybird primary is chosen so that negroes will not have to vote.
The exclusion of Negroes from the Jaybird primary is the exclusion of Negroes from the only primary which counts in Fort Bend County.23 It is the denial to Negroes of the right to participate in the selection of their county officers, which violates the Fifteenth Amendment.24
The exclusion of Negro citizens from the Jaybird Democratic Association primaries violates the Fifteenth Amendment.25
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Justice Frankfurter concurred in the judgment.26 He explained that the State of Texas has permitted the Jaybird Association to take over the function of selecting the Democratic candidates for county offices.27 The State has acquiesced in the practice.28
The State has made the Jaybird primary the effective means of choosing county officers.29 He noted that the Fifteenth Amendment protects the right to vote in the only primary which counts.30 The exclusion from that primary is a denial of the right to vote secured by the Amendment.31
The State cannot permit a private organization to do what it cannot do itself.32
Whether the Jaybird Democratic Association's activities amount to state action within the meaning of the Fifteenth Amendment?33
State action within the meaning of the Fifteenth Amendment exists when a state permits a private organization to perform the function of selecting candidates for public office in a manner that denies the right to vote on account of race.34 This is particularly true when the organization has become the effective instrument for choosing officials with the acquiescence of state officials.35
Yes. The Jaybird Association, although a voluntary club, has for over fifty years conducted the only effective primary in Fort Bend County.36 Its choices are invariably ratified in the Democratic primary and general election.37 The state has allowed this private group to exclude Negroes from the decisive stage of the electoral process.38
County election officials participate in the Jaybird primary, thereby infusing state authority into the scheme.39 This constitutes state action because the state cannot permit a private organization to do what it cannot do itself under the Fifteenth Amendment.40
The Jaybird Democratic Association's activities amount to state action within the meaning of the Fifteenth Amendment.41
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Joined by The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Reed, And Mr. Justice Jackson
Justice Clark concurred in the judgment.42 He explained that the Jaybird Democratic Association operates as part and parcel of the Democratic Party, an organization existing under the auspices of Texas law.43 Its activities fall within the Fifteenth Amendment's self-executing ban because it functions as a part of the state's electoral machinery.44
The Association is the decisive power in the county's recognized electoral process.45 When a state structures its electoral apparatus in a form which devolves upon a political organization the uncontested choice of public officials, that organization itself takes on those attributes of government.46 This draws the Constitution's safeguards into play.47
Whether the combined Jaybird-Democratic-general election process in Fort Bend County denies Negro residents the right to vote on account of race?48
When a state structures its electoral apparatus in a form which devolves upon a political organization the uncontested choice of public officials, that organization takes on attributes of government.49 The combined process that effectively denies Negroes any voice in the selection of officials violates the Fifteenth Amendment.50
Yes. The combined process of the Jaybird primary in May, followed by the Democratic primary in July and the general election, has the effect of stripping Negroes of every vestige of influence in selecting the officials who control local county matters.51 The Jaybird primary is the only election that has counted in the county for more than fifty years.52 The subsequent steps are mere formalities that ratify the racially discriminatory choice already made.53
The combined Jaybird-Democratic-general election process in Fort Bend County denies Negro residents the right to vote on account of race.54
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Justice Minton dissented.55 He argued that the Jaybird Democratic Association is a voluntary, self-governing club that is not a political party under Texas law and is not subject to the control of the State.56 He contended that there is no state action because the State of Texas has not authorized the Jaybird Association to conduct primaries.57
The State has not made the Jaybird primary a part of the state elective process.58 The Fifteenth Amendment protects the right to vote in state elections but does not protect the right to vote in the primaries of a voluntary club.59 He would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.60