Devising a Standard for Section 3: Post-Shelby County Voting Rights Litigation

AuthorRoseann R. Romano
PositionJ.D. Candidate, The University of Iowa College of Law, 2015; B.A., American University, 2012
Pages387-410
387
Devising a Standard for Section 3:
Post-Shelby County Voting Rights Litigation
Roseann R. Romano
ABSTRACT: In response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County
v. Holder, which dismantled the modern voting rights enforcement regime by
declaring section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”) unconstitutional,
plaintiffs in voting rights lawsuits have sought protection from a little-used
provision of the VRA: section 3(c). Section 3(c) allows courts to require
jurisdictions whose voting practices violate the Fourteenth or Fifteenth
Amendment to submit future voting changes to a preclearance process.
However, in light of little legislative history and only one instance of judicial
interpretation of the provision, courts face a challenge in determining when
a jurisdiction’s behavior triggers the section 3(c) remedy. Accordingly, this
Note examines section 3(c) and the legal standards applied to find Fourteenth
or Fifteenth Amendment violations in voting rights cases. This Note then
proposes an invidious discrimination standard for determining when a
jurisdiction’s voting practices trigger section 3(c). By applying this standard
to two ongoing voting rights cases, this Note argues that a less burdensome
standard than the intentional discrimination standard does not dramatically
depart from past voting rights jurisprudence and is necessary to strengthen
the voting rights enforcement regime.
J.D. Candidate, The University of Iowa College of Law, 2015; B.A., American University,
2012. I would like to thank Professor Dan Tokaji at The Ohio State University Moritz College of
Law for inspiring me to write on this topic and for his advice throughout the writing process. In
addition, thank you to the staff of Volumes 99 and 100 of the Iowa Law Review who were
instrumental in improving this Note, particularly Luke Dawson, Amanda Beggs, and Michelle
Wallace. Finally, a very special thank you to my family and friends for their unending love and
support—I couldn’t have done it without you!
388 IOWA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 100:387
I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 389
II. THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AND THE CONSTITUTION .................... 389
A. THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT: RELEVANT PROVISIONS AND
HISTORY ................................................................................. 390
B. SHELBY COUNTY V. HOLDER: THE DEMISE OF SECTION 5 ........ 393
C. FINDING CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS IN VOTING RIGHTS
CASES ..................................................................................... 395
1. Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment Standards in
Voting Rights ................................................................. 395
2. Precedent for Constitutional Violations in Voting
Rights ............................................................................. 396
III. JEFFERS V. CLINTON: ONE COURTS APPROACH TO SECTION
3(C) .............................................................................................. 399
IV. DEVISING A STANDARD FOR TRIGGERING SECTION 3(C) ............... 403
A. WHERE JEFFERS WENT WRONG ................................................ 403
B. INVIDIOUS DISCRIMINATION: DEVISING THE PROPER
STANDARD .............................................................................. 404
C. APPLYING THE INVIDIOUS DISCRIMINATION STANDARD ............. 405
1. The Allegations Against Texas and North Carolina ... 406
2. Triggering Section 3(c) Under the Invidious
Discrimination Standard............................................... 407
D. ALTERNATIVES TO THE INVIDIOUS DISCRIMINATION
STANDARD .............................................................................. 408
V. CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 410

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