terry vs. adams

Terry vs. Adams (1953)
A group of black Americans in Fort Bend County, Texas are suing the Jaybird Democratic Association. They are suing because blacks are not allowed to be a part of the Jaybird Democratic Association. The Jaybird Democratic Association was organized in 1889. The association indorses the democratic primary for the county office. The organization does not allow blacks to be in it. The balloting is only open to the white public that is qualified to vote. The Negroes were granted a declaratory judgment that Negroes be allowed to have a say in the association by the District Court. Then that judgment was overturned by the Court of Appeals because the association was not an “action under color of state law”.
In the Supreme Court the evidence showed that all rules of the association are made by its members or by the Executive Committee. To be a member the rules say that you have to be part of the white voting population. In the beginning of May of eve...