The U.S. Department of Justice will take on Texas in the first major voting rights enforcement action since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a key anti-discrimination provision last month, an aggressive move that faces high hurdles.
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. announced Thursday that the Justice Department would ask a federal court in Texas to subject that state to a preclearance regime similar to that required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most efficient tools for the Justice Department’s fight against discrimination at the polls.
