In a highly anticipated Supreme Court ruling, the 1965 Voting Rights Act survived a legal challenge that many analysts expected to topple the landmark civil rights law. The court's 8-toi decision sidestepped the core constitutional issues in question, keeping intact a key provision of the statute. That measure, Section 5, requires all or parts of 16 states deemed to have a history of racial discrimination to seek federal clearance before changing voting procedures. Critics call the requirement outdated; defenders insist the scrutiny is still needed.
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