United States v. State of Texas

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge;

In this action the Attorney General of the United States challenges the validity of the Texas poll tax, 1 pursuant to the provisions of Section 10(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 79 Stat. 437, and 42 U.S.C. 1971(c). The United States seeks to show that the requirement of the payment of a poll tax as a precondition for voting in Texas is a device conceived primarily to deprive Negroes of the franchise and that it has continued to have that effect because the inadequate and disparate educational opportunity given Negroes until recent years by the State has placed…