This landmark case from Louisiana, United States v. Classic (1941), erased much of the ambiguity about how far the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments could reach into the election process. “If a state law made the primary an integral part of the election machinery and if the primary did effectively control the choice of the elected official then Congress had the right and the duty to regulate and control such primaries,” explained historian Darlene Clark Hine of the High Court’s thinking.
