Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

Shelby County v. Holder struck down the coverage formula in Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, suspending the federal preclearance requirement for states and counties with histories of voting discrimination. It is among the most consequential decisions on federalism and civil rights in recent decades.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination in voting to obtain federal preclearance before making any change to voting laws or procedures. Section 4 set the formula by which those jurisdictions were identified. The formula was based on voter registration and turnout data from the 1960s and 1970s and had been reauthorized by Congress several times, most recently in 2006. Shelby County in Alabama, a covered jurisdiction, sued and argued that the formula was outdated and imposed an unfair burden on states no longer engaged in the practices it was designed to address. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in June 2013 to strike down the coverage formula. Chief Justice Roberts' majority opinion held that "things have changed dramatically" in the South and that the formula was based on conditions that no longer existed. The Court did not strike down Section 5 itself, but without a coverage formula, no jurisdiction is subject to preclearance until Congress writes a new one. Congress has not done so. The practical effect was immediate. States that had been covered passed new voter identification laws, redistricting plans, and other measures that would previously have required federal approval. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which permits suits after the fact to challenge discriminatory practices, remains in force. The decision sharpened a debate that runs throughout American constitutional law: whether and when federal remedies for past discrimination should be retired as conditions improve. Justice Ginsburg's dissent argued that ending preclearance because it had worked was "like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."