diff --git a/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c b/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c
index 791a77517..4c343e462 100644
--- a/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c
+++ b/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ currentlocale ()
 extern void __set_ctype (struct __locale_t *, const char *charset);
 
 char *
-__loadlocale (struct __locale_t *loc, int category, const char *new_locale)
+__loadlocale (struct __locale_t *loc, int category, char *new_locale)
 {
   /* At this point a full-featured system would just load the locale
      specific data from the locale files.
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ __loadlocale (struct __locale_t *loc, int category, const char *new_locale)
 
 restart:
   if (!locale)
-    locale = (char *) new_locale;
+    locale = new_locale;
   else if (locale != tmp_locale)
     {
       locale = __set_locale_from_locale_alias (locale, tmp_locale);
diff --git a/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h b/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h
index 25c27cfac..a0c80843a 100644
--- a/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h
+++ b/newlib/libc/locale/setlocale.h
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ struct __locale_t
 };
 
 #ifdef _MB_CAPABLE
-extern char *__loadlocale (struct __locale_t *, int, const char *);
+extern char *__loadlocale (struct __locale_t *, int, char *);
 extern const char *__get_locale_env(struct _reent *, int);
 #endif /* _MB_CAPABLE */