But that's just not what enforcement means. It only means establishing the procedures to see to it that the subjects of the law comply with the law itself, not with the "intent" behind the law. I mean, I've always considered it an elemental principle of law - one that doesn't even need to be stated - that if the law says "Don't do X," then you have a right not to be bothered by anyone if you refrain from doing X. You shouldn't have to constantly be asking yourself, "OK, now why don't they want me doing that? Am I truly fulfilling its purpose?" Say they outlaw working for wages on Sundays, and then you decide to do volunteer work on that day, devoting nearly the whole day helping out at the local hospital or library or whatever, and then the authorities come up to you and start chewing you out, saying you're working way too much, and you say, "But it's volunteer work, the law only prohibits wage work," and they say, "Yeah, but the idea was to get you to work less, not more!" you would be entirely justified in saying, "BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT THE LAW SAYS!!!"
The 15th amendment does not say that states must have "reasonable" voting qualifications, and it does not say that Congress shall have the power to make sure that everyone gets a fair shake at being able to vote; it specifically says that states shall not use race as a criterion in awarding the franchise, and it gives Congress the power to make sure that they don't. It really couldn't be any clearer than that.
You're absolutely right to completely ignore what the Fifteenth Amendment doesn't say.
it specifically says that states shall not use race as a criterion in awarding the franchise, and it gives Congress the power to make sure that they don't. It really couldn't be any clearer than that.
Now you've hit the nail right on the head. As you say, section 2 "gives Congress the power to make sure that they don't."
In connection with the adoption of the Voting Rights Act, Congress held lengthy hearings and made the factual determination that some states were using literacy tests for the purpose of denying and/or abridging the right of black citizens to vote and that the right of many black citizens to vote was in fact being denied and/or abridged because of that practice. Accordingly, it determined that it would be impossible to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment without suspension of the literacy tests. Given these factual determinations, Congressional legislation designed to stop an intentional violation of the Fifteenth Amendment was entirely "appropriate."
After passage of the Voting Rights Act, the black voter participation rates went up in the affected states. And before too long, even George Wallace of Alabama (who had always gone out of his way to cast himself as the Babe Ruth of segrationists) evolved into a valuable political friend of the black community.