Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/673

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

515

Stevens, J., dissenting

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 1973 et seq. (1976 ed. and Supp. V), was enacted by Congress as a response to the ‘unremitting and ingenious defiance’ of the command of the Fifteenth Amendment for nearly a century by state officials in certain parts of the Nation. South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 309 (1966). Congress concluded that case-bycase litigation under previous legislation was an unsatisfactory method to uncover and remedy the systematic discriminatory election practices in certain areas: such lawsuits were too onerous and time-consuming to prepare, obstructionist tactics by those determined to perpetuate discrimination yielded unacceptable delay, and even successful lawsuits too often merely resulted in a change in methods of discrimination. E. g., H. R. Rep. No. 439, 89th Cong., 1st Sess., 9–11 (1965). Congress decided ‘to shift the advantage of time and inertia from the perpetrators of the evil to its victims,’ 383 U. S., at 328, and enacted ‘stringent new remedies’ designed to ‘banish the blight of racial discrimination in voting’ once and for all, id., at 308.” Id., at 243–244 (footnote omitted). During the first few years after the enactment of § 5, the federal courts gave its text a narrow literal construction that confined its coverage to the political subdivisions that registered voters and to the practices that directly concerned the registration and voting process. Prior to the Court’s decision in Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U. S. 544 (1969), only three States submitted any changes to the Attorney General for preclearance and a total of only 323 changes were pret any matter, (2) demonstrate any educational achievement or his knowledge of any particular subject, (3) possess good moral character, or (4) prove his qualifications by the voucher of registered voters or members of any other class.” 42 U. S. C. § 1973b(c). As this Court recognized in South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S., at 330, “[t]ests and devices are relevant to voting discrimination because of their long history as a tool for perpetrating the evil.”