Opinion of the Court in Shelby County v. Holder
The Voting Rights Act’s Preclearance Formula IS Unconstitutional
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 employed extraordinary measures to address an extraordinary problem. Section 5 of the Act required States to obtain Federal permission before enacting any law related to voting — a drastic departure from basic principles of federalism. And Section 4 of the Act applied that requirement only to some States — an equally dramatic departure from the principle that all States enjoy equal sovereignty. This was strong medicine, but Congress determined it was needed to address entrenched racial discrimination in voting, “an insidious and pervasive evil which had been perpetuated in certain parts of our country…
