The entire world laughs as both Democrats and Republicans avert their eyes and pretend that nothing happened. However the first time was definitely a tragedy.

Everyone knows the Texas legislature passed a law requiring a tax to vote that substantially suppressed Black turnout.

However Texas public schools have sanitized one of the the most heinous laws ever enacted by the State of Texas. It was SB 44 authored by Senator Richard Saffarrans Bowers of Burleson.

Click image to enlarge

The key text from the bill:

Click image to enlarge the bill (as passed)

This bill passed the legislature with unanimous consent. At the time every single member of the Texas House of Representative and the Texas Senate was a white male Democrat.

There was no Republican Party primary because there effectively was no Republican Party. If you could not vote in the Democratic White Primary YOU COULD NOT VOTE.

The NAACP appealed the law to the US Supreme Court four times where it was most significantly found constitional in Grovey v. Townsend. The majority included famous Jewish Democratic White Supremacists and Black Voter Suppressors Benjamin Cardozo and Louis Brandeis.

Both were rewarded for their strong commitments to social justice and constitutional scholarship with universities named in their honor.

In particular Louis Brandeis revelled in being known as the "People's Lawyer". Based on his vote in Townsend he might be more accurately known as the "White People's Lawyer".

The Democratic White Primary was the law of Texas for 21 years.

As always, if you know something say something, and say it to WHISTLEBLOWER@openrecords.org.