Supreme Court Case - Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder
Thank you for your interest in the case before the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. This page contains information about the case - please take a moment to review the information, and then click here to forward this page to your friends and colleagues. We need your help as we continue the fight for minority voting rights!
On March 18, 2009, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a major brief before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Texas State Conference of the NAACP and the Austin Branch of the NAACP to defend the voting rights of racial and language minorities in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder, Case No. 08-322.
In question in this case is the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 5, widely recognized as one of the most effective civil rights laws ever passed by Congress, requires federal review before new voting procedures can be used in states with histories of discriminatory voting practices. The utility district, located in Travis County, Texas, sought to be exempted from Section 5 coverage via the so-called “bailout” provision of the Voting Rights Act, or, in the alternative, to have the reauthorized Section 5 declared unconstitutional. The Texas State Conference of the NAACP and Austin Branch of the NAACP intervened in the case as defendants, along with other interested organizations. The district court dismissed the utility district’s case, ruling last year that the district was ineligible to “bail out” from Section 5 coverage, and more importantly, that Section 5 remains constitutional. The utility district then appealed to the Supreme Court.
Our brief emphasizes that although the Supreme Court has announced new doctrines recently to ensure that Congress does not exceed its enforcement powers, nothing in those cases brought into question the Supreme Court’s four previous cases that found Section 5 constitutional. Because Section 5 enforces both the Fifteenth Amendment prohibition of racial discrimination in voting and the Fourteenth Amendment prohibition of racial discrimination, Congress acts at the height of its powers when it decides what legislation is needed to remedy and deter such discrimination.
The case was argued before the Supreme Court on April 29, 2009. A decision is expected by the end of the Court’s term in June.
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