Speech #910048336

Mr. President. the Greensboro Daily News of Greensboro. N.C.. carried an editorial in its issue of June 4. 1969. entitled "Literacy Tests in Gaston." which comments with much wisdom upon the decision of the threejudge court in the District of Columbia. and the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case in which Gaston County sought to obtain exemption from coverage under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As the editorial writer comments: By endorsing the farfetched reasoning of U.S. District Judge Skelly Wright in the Gaston County literacy test case. the Supreme Court has in a small but significant measure armed its critics and disarmed its defenders. Both the opinion of Judge Wright and that of the Supreme Court in effect amend the act of Congress by adding to it requirements not constituting a part of the act. Since every informed person in North Carolina knows that the election officials of Gaston County have not been guilty of discriminating against any person qualified to vote on the ground of his race. color. or previous condition of servitude in violation of the 15th amendment. the decision of the threejudge District court. and the decision of the Supreme Court in the Gaston County literacy test case does nothing to enhance the confidence of informed North Carolinians in the national judiciary. The result of this case. which under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had to be tried before Judge Skelly Wright and two other Judges of the District of Columbia instead of before the Federal courts of North Carolina where witnesses were readily available. demonstrates that the provision of the Voting Rights Act which nailed shut all the Federal courts in the Nation. except the District Court of the District of Columbia. was and is a rather shabby form of due process of law. I ask unanimous consent that the editorial to which I have referred. be printed at this point in the body of the RECORD.