Interviewer:
What were the cases that you became involved in that you feel have meant the most?

Voice of Thurgood Marshall:
Well, the primary case in Texas, Smith against Allwright, was, I think, the first real big one I had.

Wil Haygood, author of Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America (2015):
Smith v. Allwright, that was a case outta Texas and the Democratic all-white primary.

Sheryll D. Cashin, author and the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Civil Rights and Social Justice at Georgetown University:
In Texas, and in most southern states, whoever won the primary was going to win the general, and they had a system that limited the primary voting to whites.

Wil Haygood, author of Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America (2015):
And if those whites only wanted a segregationist to win, well, then, the deed was done, because by the time the main voting date was set, if you could get past the poll tax, then you still didn't have any choice but to vote for that person who had been anointed via the all-white primary.

Gilbert King, author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America:
The interesting thing with Thurgood Marshall is, a lot of times he would go into cases like this, and he knew full well that he was gonna lose, that the home field advantage to the state was too powerful to overcome, but for him, the strategy was to make sure that they kept a really accurate record, so that they could appeal it to a higher court. That, he felt, was a level playing field.

Marshall:
They had been four previous cases, and Negroes still weren't voting in the primary, and Chief Judge Hutchins, Hutchinson, I think it was, he drafted the first white primary law to keep Negroes out, so, I mean, I knew where his heart was, and he started in on his questioning, and he questioned me about qualifications for voters. Step by step, back, back, back. He had me on my feet for three hours, and he ruled against it. I said, "Well, I'm going to Supreme Court." He said, "Of course." I saw him a couple months later, and he says, "Have you filed your petition, sir?" I said, "No, sir." He said, "Why don't you hurry up? You know you're gonna win." And we brought it up here, and we did. We won it.

Cashin:
I suspect part of the reason why he was most proud of that was his understanding that Black freedom really depended on functioning democracy in which Blacks had voice.