Justice Stewart's Dissent
Justice Potter Stewart dissented from the Court's judgment, joined by Justices Hugo L. Black and John Marshall Harlan. According to Justice Stewart, the test for whether a statute violates the equal protection clause is a simple one: legislation should be held invalid only if it rest on grounds wholly irrelevant to achieving the legislature's objectives. Thus, according to the precedent of Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections,states may impose restrictions on voting so long as they are reasonably designed to promote intelligent use of the ballot. Justice Stewart observed that residency requirement are a permissible type of restriction under this standard, and asserted that the majority had not sufficiently explained why this case fell under a different standard.
Read more about this topic: Kramer V. Union Free School District No. 15
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