Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/12-96_6k47.pdf
Page Number: 9.0

Cite as:  570 U. S. ____ (2013) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

turnout  as  of  1972.    Voting  Rights  Act  Amendments  of
1975, §§101, 202, 89 Stat. 400, 401.  Congress also amend-
ed the definition of “test or device” to include the practice
of providing English-only voting materials in places where
over  five  percent  of  voting-age  citizens  spoke  a  single 
language other than English.  §203, id., at 401–402.  As a 
result of these amendments, the States of Alaska, Arizona, 
and Texas, as well as several counties in California, Flor-
ida,  Michigan,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Da-
kota, became covered jurisdictions.  See 28 CFR pt. 51, App.
Congress  correspondingly  amended  sections  2  and  5  to 
forbid voting discrimination on the basis of membership in
a  language  minority  group,  in  addition  to  discrimination 
on the basis of race or color.  §§203, 206, 89 Stat. 401, 402. 
Finally,  Congress  made  the  nationwide  ban  on  tests  and
devices permanent.  §102, id., at 400. 

In 1982, Congress reauthorized the Act for 25 years, but 
did not alter its coverage formula.  See Voting Rights Act 
Amendments, 96 Stat. 131.  Congress did, however, amend 
the  bailout  provisions,  allowing  political  subdivisions  of 
covered  jurisdictions  to  bail  out.    Among  other  prerequi-
sites for bailout, jurisdictions and their subdivisions must
not  have  used  a  forbidden  test  or  device,  failed  to  receive 
preclearance,  or  lost  a  §2  suit,  in  the  ten  years  prior  to
seeking bailout.  §2, id., at 131–133. 

We  upheld  each  of  these  reauthorizations  against  con-
stitutional  challenge.  See  Georgia  v.  United  States,  411 
U. S. 526 (1973); City of Rome v. United  States, 446 U. S. 
156  (1980);  Lopez  v.  Monterey  County,  525  U. S.  266 
(1999).

In 2006, Congress again reauthorized the Voting Rights
Act  for  25  years,  again  without  change  to  its  coverage
formula.  Fannie  Lou  Hamer,  Rosa  Parks,  and  Coretta 
Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amend-
ments  Act,  120  Stat.  577.  Congress  also  amended  §5  to
§5,  id.,  at  580– 
prohibit  more  conduct  than  before.