A Showdown on Voting Rights in the Supreme Court

A recent Supreme Court lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that requires Justice Department approval of any changes to electoral practices in states that historically suppressed minority votes. The challenge comes from an unlikely source; for a test case, conservative lawyers picked a local utility board official who had to get approval for his decision to move a polling station from a garage to a local school.

While updating laws to prevent unnecessary burdens makes sense, this case has troubling implications. President Bush and Congress reauthorized this section of the Voting Rights Act in 2006, so a change by the courts would override the popular will. Also, on issues related to potential discrimination, there is good reason to be cautious in rolling back reforms--consider the wide allegations of voter suppression in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Yet the makeup of the Supreme Court after President Bush's appointments has altered the court's civil rights stance notably (including a repeal of the option for racial balancing in public schools in 2007), which means this law is unlikely to survive.