In the Williams v. Mississippi case of 1897, the U.S Supreme Court upheld provisions of the Mississippi constitution and laws that effectively disenfranchised most black voters in the state. The plaintiff, a black man named Henry Williams who had been convicted for murder by an all-white jury, challenged these laws on grounds that they violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under law and Fifteenth Amendment right to vote regardless of race or color. However, since these laws were racially neutral on their face (requiring literacy tests and poll taxes without explicitly mentioning race), but discriminatory in effect (disproportionately excluding blacks from voting due to widespread illiteracy and poverty among them), the court ruled against him. It held that states could regulate voter qualifications as long as there was no racial discrimination written into law itself - thus sanctioning "de facto" segregation despite "de jure" equality before law.

In the case of Williams v. Mississippi, there was no recorded dissenting opinion from any justice on the Supreme Court bench. The court unanimously upheld Mississippi's constitution and registration requirements, which were challenged for being racially discriminatory against African Americans. The justices concluded that these laws did not violate the Fifteenth Amendment since they didn't explicitly mention race or color as a factor in voter eligibility. Therefore, all nine justices concurred with this decision without expressing any disagreement or opposition to it.