Shelby County v. Holder

Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Shelby County, Alabama challenged the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required certain jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory voting practices to obtain federal approval (‘preclearance’) before changing voting laws. The county argued that the coverage formula (Section 4(b)) was outdated.

Significance

Chief Justice Roberts’ 5-4 opinion struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional. The Court held that the formula determining which jurisdictions were subject to preclearance was based on 40-year-old data and violated the principle of equal state sovereignty. While the Court did not invalidate Section 5 itself, the decision effectively gutted the preclearance requirement by eliminating the formula that triggered it. Congress was invited to create a new coverage formula but has not done so. In the years following Shelby County, several previously covered jurisdictions enacted restrictive voting laws.

Category

US Federal Case Law