# Fighting Back After the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act Decision

The Supreme Court's decision to strike down core provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has triggered aggressive countermeasures from voting rights advocates and state legislatures.

In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court invalidated Section 5 of the VRA, which required jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before changing voting rules. The decision removed the preclearance requirement that applied to nine states, primarily in the South, and parts of seven others.

The ruling eliminated the federal government's most potent tool for preventing discriminatory voting changes before they take effect. States and counties previously subject to preclearance now face only after-the-fact litigation through Section 2 of the VRA, which is slower and more expensive to enforce.

Congress has not successfully reauthorized the preclearance formula since 2006. Efforts to restore VRA protections have stalled in divided legislatures. Some states responded to Shelby County by immediately implementing voter identification requirements and redistricting maps that had been blocked under preclearance.

Voting rights organizations have pursued alternative strategies. They filed Section 2 lawsuits challenging state laws as discriminatory, with mixed success depending on circuit courts' interpretations. The Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, covering much of the South, have applied stricter standards for proving intentional discrimination. Other circuits require only showing that a law has a disparate impact on minority voters.

Some states, including Georgia and Texas, have faced repeated litigation over voter ID laws, congressional maps, and polling place closures. Courts have blocked some measures but upheld others, creating a patchwork of voting rules across the country.

Congress could restore federal preclearance by passing new legislation with an updated coverage formula based on recent discrimination data. The John Lewis