Edward Douglass White

“ All the other contentions are reducible to the proposition that a violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States has resulted from the putting in force by the general assembly of Missouri, in cities having a population of over 300,000 inhabitants, of a registration law which, in the mind of a judicial tribunal, may not as effectually safeguard the right and privilege of voting as might be devised, considered alone or with reference to a prior enactment. ”

“ The general right to vote in the state of Missouri is primarily derived from the state (United States v. Reese, 92 U.S. 214, 23 L. ed. 563) , and the elective franchise, if one of the fundamental privileges and immunities of the citizens of St. Louis, as citizens of Missouri and of the United States, is clearly such franchise 'as regulated and established by the laws or Constitution of the state in which it is to be exercised.' Blake v. ”

“ The assertions referred to, it must be borne in mind, are made by a public official who is seeking to avoid the performance of duties enjoined upon him by the law in question, and who does not allege that any particular rights possessed by him as an individual have been expressly invaded. ”