Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/659

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Cite as: 502 U. S. 491 (1992)

501

Opinion of the Court

Federal Government, id., at 334, we held it constitutional as a permitted congressional response to the unremitting attempts by some state and local officials to frustrate their citizens’ equal enjoyment of the right to vote. See id., at 308–315. After South Carolina v. Katzenbach upheld the Voting Rights Act against a constitutional challenge, it was not until we heard Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U. S. 544 (1969), that we were called upon to decide whether particular changes were covered by § 5. There we rejected a narrow construction, one which would have limited § 5 to state rules prescribing who may register to vote. We held that the section applies also to state rules relating to the qualifications of candidates and to state decisions as to which offices shall be elective. Id., at 564–565. We observed that “[t]he Voting Rights Act was aimed at the subtle, as well as the obvious, state regulations which have the effect of denying citizens their right to vote because of their race.” Id., at 565. Our decision, and its rationale, have proved sound, and we adhere to both. In giving a broad construction to § 5 in Allen, we noted that “Congress intended to reach any state enactment which altered the election law of a covered State in even a minor way.” Id., at 566. Relying on this language and its application in later cases, appellants and the United States now argue that because there is no de minimis exception to § 5, the changes at issue here must be subject to preclearance. E. g., Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 21–22. This argument, however, assumes the answer to the principal question in the case: whether the changes at issue are changes in voting, or as we phrased it in Allen, “election law.” We agree that all changes in voting must be precleared and with Allen’s holding that the scope of § 5 is expansive within its sphere of operation. That sphere comprehends all changes to rules governing voting, changes effected