467 U.S. 216 (1984)
Bernal, a native of Mexico, has lived in the United States as a resident alien since 1961.1 He works as a paralegal for Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc., assisting migrant farmworkers on employment and civil rights matters.2 In 1978 Bernal applied to the Texas Secretary of State to become a notary public. He sought the position so he could administer oaths and notarize statements for use in civil litigation.3 Bernal had previously held a notary commission in Indiana while working in a legal services program there.4
The Secretary of State denied the application because Bernal failed to satisfy the citizenship requirement of Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated Article 5949(2).5 After an unsuccessful administrative appeal, Bernal joined as a coplaintiff in a federal district court suit initially filed by Margarita Vargas, who later obtained citizenship and left the case.6
The district court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.7 A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.8
Texas notaries public authenticate written instruments, administer oaths, and take out-of-court depositions.9 The State does not require citizenship for court reporters, who perform some of the same services, or for the Secretary of State, who supervises the licensing of all notaries public.10
Whether a Texas statute requiring United States citizenship to become a notary public violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?11
As a general matter, a state law that discriminates on the basis of alienage can be sustained only if it can withstand strict judicial scrutiny.12 A narrow political function exception applies to laws that exclude aliens from positions intimately related to the process of democratic self-government, evaluated under the two-part Cabell test examining specificity of the classification and whether the position involves important nonelective roles that participate directly in the formulation, execution, or review of broad public policy.13
Yes. The Texas statute discriminates against resident aliens such as Bernal by barring them from notary public positions solely on the basis of citizenship.14 The political function exception does not apply because notaries perform essentially clerical and ministerial duties, as shown by the established facts that they authenticate instruments, administer oaths, and take depositions without exercising broad discretionary policymaking authority or coercive force over individuals, in contrast to police officers or teachers.15 Because the exception is inapplicable, strict scrutiny governs, and the state's asserted interests in ensuring familiarity with Texas law and later availability of testimony fail that standard, as the established facts reveal no actual test measuring legal knowledge and no factual demonstration of any real problem with testimony availability.16
The Texas statute violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.17