Voting Rights Act Faces the Court
Posted at 4 p.m. on Feb. 26
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in the case of Shelby County v. Holder, a challenge to two key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Lyle Denniston lays out five options the court has in deciding the case, including the following three outcomes.
“Option # 1: Strike down both of the two sections at issue… To go the furthest in doing away with the 1965 Act’s basic scheme, the Court could strike down both Section 5′s “preclearance” requirement, and Section 4′s coverage formula.”
“Option # 2: Strike down Section 5… If the Court did that, there would be no need to separately address Section 4, because a coverage formula is not needed if Section 5 goes.”
“Option # 3: Strike down Section 4 only… The Court could say that Section 5 can only be enforced if the coverage formula is modernized, and perhaps expanded beyond the two measures now in use: the record of minorities who register to vote, and who actually go to the polls.”
