In Allen v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court of the United States was asked to decide whether a state law that prohibited African Americans from serving on juries was constitutional. The case arose when a black man, Allen, was convicted of murder by an all-white jury in Louisiana. Allen argued that the jury selection process violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court held that the Louisiana law was unconstitutional. The Court reasoned that the law violated the Equal Protection Clause because it denied African Americans the right to serve on juries. The Court noted that the right to a jury trial was a fundamental right, and that the state could not deny African Americans the right to serve on juries without a compelling reason. The Court concluded that the state had failed to provide such a reason, and thus the law was unconstitutional. The Court's decision in Allen v. Louisiana was a landmark ruling that established the principle that states cannot deny African Americans the right to serve on juries without a compelling reason. The decision was an important step in the struggle for racial equality in the United States.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Allen v. Louisiana, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment does not grant citizens of a state any right to vote for members of Congress or other federal officers. He argued that this power was reserved exclusively to the states and their legislatures under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution. Furthermore, he argued that if such a right were granted by the Fourteenth Amendment it would be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority from one branch of government (the legislature) to another (the people). Justice Field concluded his dissent by stating that while he believed voting rights should be extended equally among all citizens regardless of race or color, it was up to each individual state's legislature - not Congress nor any court - to decide how best to do so within its own borders.