Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/12-96_6k47.pdf
Page Number: 7

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

3 

Opinion of the Court 

Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
began  to  enact  literacy  tests  for  voter  registration  and
to  employ  other  methods  designed  to  prevent  African-
Americans  from  voting.  Katzenbach,  383  U. S.,  at  310. 
Congress passed statutes outlawing some of these practices 
and  facilitating  litigation  against  them,  but  litigation 
remained slow and expensive, and the States came up with 
new  ways  to  discriminate  as  soon  as  existing  ones  were 
struck  down.    Voter  registration  of  African-Americans
barely improved.  Id., at 313–314. 

Inspired  to  action  by  the  civil  rights  movement,  Con-
gress  responded  in  1965  with  the  Voting  Rights  Act.
Section  2  was  enacted  to  forbid,  in  all  50  States,  any 
“standard,  practice,  or  procedure  . . .  imposed  or  applied 
. . . to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United 
States  to  vote  on  account  of  race  or  color.”    79  Stat.  437. 
The  current  version  forbids  any  “standard,  practice,  or 
procedure” that “results in a denial or abridgement of the 
right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account 
of  race  or  color.”    42  U. S. C.  §1973(a).    Both  the  Federal 
Government and individuals have sued to enforce §2, see, 
e.g.,  Johnson  v.  De  Grandy,  512  U. S.  997  (1994),  and 
injunctive  relief  is  available  in  appropriate  cases  to  block 
voting  laws  from  going  into  effect,  see  42  U. S. C. 
§1973j(d).  Section  2  is  permanent,  applies  nationwide,
and is not at issue in this case. 

Other  sections  targeted  only  some  parts  of  the  country.
At  the  time  of  the  Act’s  passage,  these  “covered”  jurisdic-
tions  were  those  States  or  political  subdivisions  that  had 
maintained  a  test  or  device  as  a  prerequisite  to  voting  as
of  November  1,  1964,  and  had  less  than  50  percent  voter
registration  or  turnout  in  the  1964  Presidential  election. 
§4(b), 79 Stat. 438.  Such tests or devices included literacy
and  knowledge  tests,  good  moral  character  requirements, 
the need for vouchers from registered voters, and the like. 
§4(c),  id.,  at  438–439.  A  covered  jurisdiction  could  “bail