Once again, race is front and center at the U.S. Supreme Court
on Wednesday. And once again, the bull's eye is the 1965 Voting
Rights Act, widely viewed as the most effective and successful
civil rights legislation in American history. Upheld five times
by the court, the law now appears to be on life support. The
provision at issue in Wednesday's case applies only to specific
parts of the country where discriminatory voting procedures were
once rampant. It covers all of nine states, mainly in the South,
plus parts of seven other states. To head off discriminatory
voting procedures before they happen, the law requires covered
areas to get approval from federal officials before changes can
take place. So, for example, if an Alabama town wants to change
polling places, or to change from an elected board to an
appointed board, or to annex another part of the county, it has
to first get permission from the Justice Department or a federal
court in Washington, D.C. Congress came up with the formula in
1965 to cover