Edgar L. McHaney

“ Whenever any political party in this State shall, by primary election, nominate any person to become a candidate at any general election, regular or special, or for U.S. Senator, or for Congress, or any legislative, judicial, State, district, county, township or municipal office, the said primary election shall be, and is hereby made, a legal election. ”

“ Being a voluntary political organization and not an agency of the State, the Democratic Party had the right to prescribe the rules and regulations defining the qualifications of membership, and to provide that only white people could becoine members, without coming within the prohibition of either the Fourteenth or Fifteenth. ”

“ The fact that nominees - of the Democratic Party in Arkansas are always elected at the general electiOn does not alter the situation. Neither does the fact that appellants are Democrats, that they believe in the principles of the Democratic party, and that they Supported the nominees in previous general elections. There is no more reason to say that the Democratic party in Arkansas cannot make the rule in question, than there is to say that the Masonic bodies in Arkansas may not exclude them on account of color. ”

“ All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States, and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law Which shall abridge tbe privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law ”

“ They do not concern the general public. They directly interest, both in their conduct and in their success, only so much of the public as are comprised in their membership, and then only as members of the particular organization. They constitute no governmental agency. ”