Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-06-22
GRANDFATHER CLAUSE
IS DECLARED VOID
u. S. Supreme Court Knocks Out
City Ordinance.
GIVES SWEEPING DECISION.
Restores Franchise to Negroes and
Opens Way to Other Southern
States.

The Supreme Court of the United
States, in a decision so clear and en-
phatic as to set at rest forever all fur
ther attempts to violate the Fifteenth
Amendment. declared the Oklahoma
law and the Annapolis ordinance, both
of which attempted q disfranchise-
ment of the negro voters by Grand
father Clause, to be Unconstitutional.
The court. speaking its unanimous
decision through Chief Justice White.
reviewed in detail the efforts made in
Oklahoma to prevent negroes from
voting at federal and at state cleo
tious and in Annapolis at municipal
elections, and declared all these eff
forts illegal unconstitutional and in
effective. In each case the law con
tanned other provisions which the
court did not find repugnant TO the
Constitution.
Thus the Oklahoma law contained a
literacy tes. which the court declared
to be valid, but, of course, the entire
law fell because OF tire unconstitution-
ality of the Grandfather Clause. Sim
ilarly i'm the Annapolis case the court
did not object to the provisions pro-
viding n property qualification OF
$500, nor the clause relating TO nat
uralized citizens who have reached
the age of q years, but here, again,
the Grandfather Clause killed the en-
tire law. The court also upheld the
award OF damages against the regis
trarS Myers and Kalmey
II was the last session day of the
court until October, and it was gener-
ally believed that the court would
hand down its decision in both cases
involving the Grandfather Clause.
The Oklahoma case was argued more
than two years ago, while the Annap-
oils case was heard in the Supreme
Court AZ the October term of 1913.
There was. at no time. any doubt that
the court would declare the Grand
father Clause unconstitutional
Curiously enough. although South
ern States began adopting GRANDPA
ther Clauses to their constitutions
several years ago tone Of them nearly
ten years ago. the question of the con-
Stitutionality OF this device for dis
franchising negro voters was never
brought squarely before the Supreme
Court until Oklahoma one of the latest
additions to the Uuion, adopted it in
its constitution. Maryland made two
attempts, each of which was defeated
by an overwhelming majority.
Democratic leaders of Southern
states deeply regretted the efforts of
the Maryland Democratic organiza.
ton to adopt the Grandfather Clause
amendment, for those of them who
had legal training always recognized
that the device was repugnant TO the
Fifteenth Amendment, and could be
condoned only by conditions existing
IN some OF the Southern states like
Mississippi Arkansas and South Car
olina conditions which had no parallel
in Maryland
They recognized if ever case test
ing the validity of the Grandfather
Clause was brought before the Su-
preme Court from a state where the
white voters easily outnumbered the
blacks. the Supreme Court would null
lify the law Yesterday, the Supreme
Court. by it's decision, has proved the
means to restore the franchise to hun
dreds of thousands of colored voters
throughout the South. who have been
deprived OF their vote under the
Grandfather Clause.
II is remembered that here during
Mr.. Marbury's argument, Justice Pit
ney, who had at that time been re-
Gently appointed to the Supreme Court,
interrupting Mr.. Marbury, who was
arguing for the validity of the ordi-
nance suggested that the logical con
clusion of his argument claiming the
right of a municipality to restrict
franchise. would be that the colored
vote of the whole state could be thus
disposed of if sufficient municipalities
to embrace the entire state were given
the authority confirmed by the legis-
lature at Annapolis in the acts before
the courts.
The grandfather clause"of both the
Oklahoma and Maryland enactments
was designed TO restrict negro suf'
frage. In Oklahoma the clause was
written in the State Constitution and
applied to Federal, State. county ane
municipal elections. In Maryland tht
clause applied only to municipal cleo
tions at Annapolis and hes no bearing
whatever on Federal or Statewide
/ elections in this Commonwealth.
This clause provides that any per
son whose grandfather was not a reg
/ istered voter of any state cannot reg
ister. The grandfather clause" as
written in the Oklahoma Constitu-
ton. was copied from the North Car
olina law. 1t is the product OF th'
mind of Senator simmons, of tina
/ state. who led the fight twenty-five
( ,.,avs as,o aud ,,verthraw negro dOmi