In short, the VAWA allows women to pursue cases that are too weak to be admitted into criminal court. The gender violence need not even be reported to the police in order to be pursued in federal court. This is promising for feminists who routinely consider even words and images to be a form of gender violence. To this end, the VAWA attempted to create a special class of crime defined by ideology. A major tenet of radical feminism is that violence against women is part of a political campaign that men as a class inflict upon women as a class.
Facts are often irrelevant to ideology.
The Supreme Court decision dealt an unexpected blow to this feminist agenda. Unexpected because, on mere statistical grounds, the Supreme Court tends to overturn rather than to uphold earlier rulings on the cases it hears. NOW President Patricia Ireland felt betrayed. I've never seen a more compelling argument for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women's equality. The case was a victory for those who wish to limit federal power.