Potter Stewart

“ But even assuming such an analysis were attempted, it could not in my view justify drawing a constitutional line between the classification involved here and a literacy requirement. True, the appellant and persons in his class might be thought to have generally more ability to vote intelligently than do illiterates. On the other hand, illiterate citizens clearly have considerably more of a stake in the outcome of general elections than do the members of the appellant's class in the result of school district elections. ”

“ The appellant, a bachelor who lives with his parents and who neither owns nor leases any real property within the District, falls within none of those classes, and consequently is disqualified from voting despite the fact that he meets the general age and residence requirements imposed by state law. ”

“ The Court is quite explicit in explaining why it believes this statute should be given 'close scrutiny':
'The presumption of constitutionality and the approval given 'rational' classifications in other types of enactments are based on an assumption that the institutions of state government are structured so as to represent fairly all the people. ”

“ It was under just such a test that the literacy requirement involved in Lassiter was upheld. The premise of our decision in that case was that a State may constitutionally impose upon its citizens voting requirements reasonably 'designed to promote intelligent use of the ballot.' 360 U.S., at 51, 79 S.Ct., at 990. A similar premise underlies the proposition, consistently endorsed by this Court, [4] that a State may exclude nonresidents from participation in its elections. ”