re: #3 Dark_Falcon

Yes, but pre-clearance itself wasn’t the issue here, since Section 5 of the VRA was held to be Constitutional. What was ruled was that Shelby County, AL, should not continue to be required to submit its election laws for pre-clearance based on a formula that measured the situation in the county 40-50 years ago.

There are almost certainly places in the US where pre-clearance is still needed. But a 1972 formula measuring data from the 1960’s is not accurate way to measure if Shelby County is still such a place in 2013.

Can we at least agree that the Supreme Court killed section 4 as a way to effectively kill section 5 without being obvious about it?

As I understand it, there was a process by which a covered jurisdiction named on the original list of infamy can get off the list that involves establishing a record of not screwing with minority votes.

Unless this impression is completely incorrect, I have no sympathy for any jurisdiction that couldn’t be bothered to get off the list by acting decently for a span of time.