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Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952)
Ray v. Blair No. 649 Argued March 31, 1952 Decided April 3, 1952 Opinions filed April 15, 1952 343 U.S. 214
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
Syllabus
Where a state authorizes a political party to choose its nominees for Presidential Electors in a state-controlled party primary election and to fix the qualifications for the candidates, it is not violative of the Federal Constitution for the party to require the candidates for the office of Presidential Elector to take a pledge to support the nominees of the party’s National Convention for President and Vice-President or for the party’s officers to refuse to certify as a candidate for Presidential Elector a person otherwise qualified who refuses to take such a pledge. Pp. 215-231.
1. Presidential Electors exercise a federal function in balloting for President and Vice-President, but they are not federal officers. They act by authority of the state, which, in turn, receives its authority from the Federal Constitution. Pp. 224-225.
2. Exclusion of a candidate in a party primary by a state or political party because such candidate will not pledge to support the party’s nominees is a method of securing party candidates in the general election who are pledged to the philosophy and leadership of that party, and it is an exercise of the state’s right under Art. II, § 1, to appoint electors in such manner as it may choose. United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, and Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649, distinguished. Pp. 225-227.
3. The Twelfth Amendment does not bar a political party from requiring of a candidate for Presidential Elector in its primary a pledge to support the nominees of its National Convention. Pp. 228-231.
4. The requirement of such a pledge does not deny equal protection or due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. Nixon v. Herndon, 273 U.S. 536, distinguished. P. 226, n. 14.
257 Ala. ___, 57 So.2d 395, reversed.
The Alabama Supreme Court upheld, on federal constitutional grounds, a peremptory writ of mandamus requiring petitioner, the Chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, to certify respondent as a candidate for Presidential Elector in a Democratic Primary which was to be held on May 6, 1952. 257 Ala. ___, 57 So.2d 395. This Court granted certiorari. 343 U.S. 901. In a per curiam decision announced on April 3, 1952, in advance of the preparation of this opinion, this Court reversed that judgment. 343 U.S. 154. This opinion states the reasons for that decision.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952) in 343 U.S. 214 343 U.S. 215. Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PFPCC6A7ZH8QI2R.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952), in 343 U.S. 214, page 343 U.S. 215. Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PFPCC6A7ZH8QI2R.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952). cited in 1952, 343 U.S. 214, pp.343 U.S. 215. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PFPCC6A7ZH8QI2R.
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