John Marshall Harlan II

“ There again the congressional determination that racial discrimination in a clearly defined group of public accommodations did effectively impede interstate commerce was based on 'voluminous testimony,' 379 U.S., at 253, 85 S.Ct. at 355, which had been put before the Congress and in the context of which it passed remedial legislation.
But no such factual data provide a legislative record supporting § 4 (e) [9] by way of showing that Spanish-speaking citizens are fully as capable of making informed decisions in a New York election as are English-speaking citizens. ”

“ I believe the same interests recounted in Lassiter indubitably point toward upholding the rationality of the New York voting test. It is true that the issue here is not so simply drawn between literacy is not so simply drawn between literacy per se and illiteracy. Appellant alleges that she is literate in Spanish, and that she studied American history and government in United States Spanish-speaking schools in Puerto Rico. ”

“ Notes 1 The pertinent portions of the New York Constitution, Art. II, § 1, and statutory provisions are reproduced in the Court's opinion, ante, 384 U.S. pp. 644-645, 86 S.Ct. p. 1720, n. 2.
2 The Fifteenth Amendment forbids denial or abridgment of the franchise 'on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude'; the Seventeenth deals with popular election of members of the Senate; the Nineteenth provides for equal suffrage for women; the Twenty-fourth outlaws the poll tax as a qualification for participation in federal elections. ”

“ It is also true that most candidates, certainly those campaigning on a national or statewide level make their speeches in English. New York may justifiably want its voters to be able to understand candidates directly rather than through possibly imprecise translations or summaries reported in a limited number of Spanish news media. It is noteworthy that the Federal Government requires literacy in English as a prerequisite to naturalization, 66 Stat. ”

“ North Carolina agrees. We do not sit in judgment on the wisdom of that policy. We cannot say, however, that it is not an allowable one measured by constitutional standards.' 360 U.S., at 51 53, 79 S.Ct. ”