Speech #910032520

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. 239. 8 U.S.C. � 1423 (1964 ed.). attesting to the national view of its importance as a prerequisite to full integration into the American political community. Relevant too is the fact that the New York English test Is not complex." that it is fairly administered.m and that New York maintains free adult education classes which appellant and members of her class are encouraged to attend.v Given the States legitimate concern with promoting and safeguarding the intelligent use of the ballot. and given also New Yorks long experience with the process of integrating nonEnglishspeaking residents into the mainstream of American life. I do not see how it can be said that this qualification for suffrage is unconstitutional. I would uphold the validity of the New York statute. unless the federal statute prevents that result. the question to which I now turn. The Morgan cases (Nos. 847 and 877) These cases involve the same New York suffrage restriction discussed above. but the challenge here comes not in the form of a suit to enjoin enforcement of the state statute. but in a test of the constitutionality of a federal enactment which declares that "to secure the rights under the fourteenth amendment of persons educated in Americanflag schools in which the predominant classroom language was other than English. it is necessary to prohibit the States from conditioning the right to vote of such persons on ability to read. write. understand. or interpret any matter in the English language." Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Section 4(e) declares that anyone who has successfully completed six grades of schooling in an "Americanflag" school. in which the primary language is not English. shall not be denied the right to vote because of an inability to satisfy an English literacy test. S Although the statute is framed in general terms. so far as has been shown it applies in actual effect only to citizens of Puerto Rican background. and the Court so treats it. The pivotal question in this instance is what effect the added factor of a congressional enactment has on the straight equal protection argument dealt with above.