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Today the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of letting stand a central provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, sidestepping the issue of whether the provision was still constitutional in light of recent electoral changes in the South.  At stake was Section 5 of the Act which requires certain states and local governments to seek federal permission before changing voting procedures.  This provision was enacted in response to widespread and systematic intentional discrimination related to voting registration and redistricting efforts.  

In the challenge to the provision a small Texas water district argued that the historical basis underpinning federal oversight no longer existed and urged the Court to strike the provision altogether.  The provision at issue is subject to Congressional reauthorization, and the Constitutional challenge was in large part to the power of Congress to reauthorize Section 5.

Civil rights activists and Constitutional scholars had been braced for the Court to declare Section 5 unconstitutional, especially in light of a vigorous round of questioning by the justices during oral argument.  However, the Court avoided the issue entirely, instead holding that for now its job was not to weigh in on the appropriateness of Congressional reauthorization.  But the Court also noted that the reasons for Section 5 were quickly waning and that future reauthorizations may not fare so well.

What this means is that the Court has essentially issued a stay on the issue of the constitutionality of Congressional reauthorization, ostensibly keeping the issue alive for future challenges.  In the meantime the utility district, and by implication other political units as well, should have an easier time opting out of the federal oversight mandate as the Court's opinion specifically acknowledges a changing racial landscape in connection with electoral politics.  For now civil rights advocates are treating this decision as a mixed-bag.  On the hand one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation was left standing.  On the other, it is clear that the Court is willing, and some might say encouraging, future challenges to federal oversight of racially troubled voting districts, but only time will tell if those challenges actually emerge. 

Read more: civil rights, Supreme Court, voting rights act