U.S. Supreme Court Upholds the Voting Rights Act (For Now)

Yesterday the Supreme Court did not, as expected, strike down the 1965 Voting Rights Act in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder. That legislation was passed and intended to rectify the appalling history of disenfranchising African-Americans. In relevant part, the Act requires covered jurisdictions and their subdivisions (including Texas, the State in this case) to seek Justice Department pre-clearance of election-related changes, such as re-districting. Affected jurisdictions may, however, seek "bail-out" from these requirements. The issue here was whether Section 5 of the Act was unconstitutional if the affected subdivision could not obtain bail-out.

The Supreme Court did not address the constitutional question. The "avoidance doctrine" was cited as a basis to avoid the issue. The decision is found here. It has been reported that, based upon the oral argument, it was expected the Court would strike down the Act as unconstitutional. That is precisely what the lone dissenting Justice, Clarence Thomas, would have done. He claims there is no evidence that there is any continuing racial discrimination in the elections of the covered districts, so that the race-conscious remedy is unnecessary and unlawful.

The Justice Department and civil rights groups were pleased by the decision. The tenor of the Court's decision makes apparent that, if addressed in the future, the Act will likely be declared unconstitutional.