Lane v. Wilson
United States Supreme Court
307 U.S. 268 (1939)
- Written by Kyli Cotten, JD
Facts
Prior to 1915, Oklahoma required voters to undergo a literacy test before being allowed to register to vote. The policy included a grandfather clause which largely allowed White voters to be excused from taking the literacy test. In 1915, in Guinn v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 (1915), the United States Supreme Court declared the Oklahoma literacy test unconstitutional. In response, Oklahoma enacted a new law that gave all newly eligible voters a 12-day window to register to vote. Those who did not register in the window were forever barred from voting. Again, an exception applied for those who were registered to vote in 1914, before the literacy test was struck down. In effect, the registration window kept only Black voters from voting. In 1934, Lane, a Black man living in Oklahoma, was denied the opportunity to register to vote. Lane filed suit, alleging that prohibiting him from registering was unconstitutional. The district court entered a directed verdict against Lane. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Frankfurter, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.