Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-980_f2q3.pdf
Page Number: 55

2 

HUSTED v. A. PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

‘[r]estrictive  registration  laws  and  administrative  proce-
dures’ came to use across the United States.”  Ante, at 1–2 
(opinion  of  BREYER,  J.).    States  enforced  “poll  tax[es], 
literacy  tests,  residency  requirements,  selective  purges, 
. . .  and  annual  registration  requirements,”  which  were 
developed “to keep certain groups of citizens from voting.”  
H. R.  Rep.  No.  103–9,  p.  2  (1993).    Particularly  relevant 
here,  some  States  erected  procedures  requiring  voters  to 
renew  registrations  “whenever  [they]  moved  or  failed  to 
vote  in  an  election,”  which  “sharply  depressed  turnout, 
particularly  among  blacks  and  immigrants.”    A.  Keyssar, 
The  Right  To  Vote  124  (2009).    Even  after  the  passage  of 
the  Voting  Rights  Act  in  1965,  many  obstacles  remained.  
See ante, at 2 (opinion of BREYER, J.). 
  Congress was well aware of the “long history of such list 
cleaning mechanisms which have been used to violate the 
basic  rights  of  citizens”  when  it  enacted  the  NVRA.  
S. Rep. No. 103–6, p. 18 (1993).  Congress thus made clear 
in  the  statutory  findings  that  “the  right  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States  to  vote  is  a  fundamental  right,”  that  “it  is 
the  duty  of  the  Federal,  State,  and  local  governments  to 
promote  the  exercise  of  that  right,”  and  that  “discrimina-
tory and unfair registration laws and procedures can have 
a direct and damaging effect on voter participation . . . and 
disproportionately  harm  voter  participation  by  various 
groups, including racial minorities.”  52 U. S. C. §20501(a).  
In  light  of  those  findings,  Congress  enacted  the  NVRA 
with  the  express  purposes  of  “increas[ing]  the  number  of 
eligible citizens who register to vote” and “enhanc[ing] the 
participation of eligible citizens as voters.”  §§20501(b)(1)–
(2).  These stated purposes serve at least in part to coun-
teract  the  history  of  voter  suppression,  as  evidenced  by 
§20507(b)(2),  which  forbids  “the  removal  of  the  name  of 
any person from the official list of voters registered to vote 
in  an  election  for  Federal  office  by  reason  of  the  person’s 
failure to vote.”  Ibid.