Supreme Court Will Hear ‘Powder Keg’ Voting Rights Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted a “powder keg” voting rights case that challenges the law requiring Justice Department clearance for changed election procedures in certain jurisdictions.
The case affects nine states, mostly in the South, and several other local voting bodies that are required to get clearance under the law, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the New York Times reports. Congress extended the clearance requirement in 2006.
At issue is whether society has changed so much that once-constitutional racial remedies are now improper infringements on state sovereignty. Law professor Richard Hasen of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles told USA Today in a story previewing the case that it offers a “powder keg” of divisive issues.
A decision overturning the extension “would mark the biggest change in U.S. voting law in decades,” Bloomberg News reports.
The Times says the Supreme Court could issue a narrow opinion if it accepts an argument by the utility district challenging the law that it is entitled to an exemption. The district says it is no longer subject to the law because it has acted without discrimination for the last 10 years.
The case is Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Mukasey.
