United States v. State of Louisiana

WISDOM, Circuit Judge.

A wall stands in Louisiana between registered voters and unregistered, eligible Negro voters. The wall is the State constitutional requirement that an applicant for registration “understand and give a reasonable interpretation of any section” of the Constitutions of Louisiana or of the United States. It is not the only wall of its kind, but since the Supreme Court’s demolishment of the white primary, the interpretation test has been the highest, best-guarded, most effective barrier to Negro voting in Louisiana.1

*356When a Louisiana citizen seeks to register, the Parish…