Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/672

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PRESLEY v. ETOWAH COUNTY COMM’N Stevens, J., dissenting

In all of our prior cases interpreting § 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the Court has agreed with the Attorney General’s construction of this important statute.8 I share the Court’s view that the “considerable deference” to which the Attorney General’s construction is entitled 9 does not mean automatic “acquiescence,” ante, at 508; however, I strongly disagree with the Court that our task in these cases is “to formulate workable rules to confine the coverage of § 5 to its legitimate sphere: voting.” Ante, at 506. For reasons that I shall explain, even if the Attorney General, participating in these cases as amicus curiae, has asked the Court to adopt a broader rationale than is necessary or appropriate, a narrower basis for a decision is obviously available in the Etowah County case and, in my judgment, in the Russell County case as well. I The original enactment of § 5, the interpretations of the Act by this Court and by the Attorney General, and the reenactment of the statute by Congress in light of those interpretations reveal a continuous process of development in response to changing conditions in the covered jurisdictions. The central purpose of the original Act was to eliminate the various devices, such as literacy tests, requirements of “good moral character,” vouchers, and poll taxes, that had excluded black voters from the registration and voting process in the southern States for decades.10 As we explained in McCain v. Lybrand, 465 U. S. 236 (1984): 8 See, e. g., Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U. S., at 390–391 (“Our conclusion that both the location of the polling places and municipal boundary changes come within § 5 draws further support from the interpretation followed by the Attorney General in his administration of the statute”); United States v. Sheffield Bd. of Comm’rs, 435 U. S. 110, 131 (1978); Dougherty County Bd. of Ed. v. White, 439 U. S., at 39. 9 NAACP v. Hampton County Election Comm’n, 470 U. S., at 178–179. 10 “Tests or devices” include “any requirement that a person as a prerequisite for voting or registration for voting (1) demonstrate the ability to read, write, understand, or inter-