Little v. Herndon was a landmark Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of racial discrimination in the United States. The case was brought by a black man, William Little, who was denied the right to vote in the state of Virginia. Little argued that the state's voting laws were unconstitutional because they discriminated against African Americans. The Supreme Court agreed with Little and ruled that the Virginia law was unconstitutional. This ruling was a major victory for civil rights activists and set a precedent for future cases involving racial discrimination. The Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law, applied to voting rights and that states could not deny citizens the right to vote based on race. This ruling was a major step forward in the fight for civil rights and helped pave the way for future civil rights legislation.

In Little v. Herndon, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a state law that prohibited African Americans from voting in elections violated the Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The majority opinion held that it did not violate the amendment because it applied equally to all races and was therefore not discriminatory. However, Justice Field dissented from this decision, arguing that while states have broad powers over their own internal affairs, they cannot pass laws which are contrary to or inconsistent with federal constitutional provisions such as those found in the Fifteenth Amendment. He argued further that even if a law applies equally across racial lines, if its purpose is to deny citizens certain rights based on race then it is unconstitutional and should be struck down by courts of justice.