In Bernal v. Fainter, Secretary of State of Texas et al., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Texas law requiring notaries public to be U.S citizens was unconstitutional. The case involved Jose Angel Bernal, a legal permanent resident from Mexico who had been denied his application for commission as a notary public due to his non-citizen status. He challenged this denial in court arguing that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which prohibits states from denying any person within its jurisdiction equal protection under the law. The Supreme Court agreed with Bernal and held that there was no substantial state interest justifying such discrimination based on citizenship status for this particular office because being a citizen did not inherently make someone more qualified or trustworthy to perform these duties than an equally competent non-citizen.

In the dissenting opinion for Bernal v. Fainter, Justice White argued that the majority's decision was inconsistent with previous rulings and misinterpreted the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He contended that Texas' requirement for notaries to be U.S citizens did not violate equal protection rights because it served a legitimate state interest in ensuring loyalty to its constitution and laws. Furthermore, he pointed out that non-citizens could still work as attorneys or other public officers who perform similar functions as notaries; thus, there was no absolute bar against them serving in positions of public trust. Therefore, he believed this citizenship requirement should have been upheld under rational basis review rather than subjected to strict scrutiny analysis by the Court.