Voting Rights Act of 1965: Some Dissenting Observations

On March 7, 1966, the Supreme Court of the United States, over the partial dissent of Mr. Justice Black, sustained the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In the mode of its adoption, the reach of its provisions, and the strength of the reactions it aroused, the act was extraordinary. And the decision which sustained it was no less so in its legitimation of expanded administrative power and in its effect upon the balance of federal and state powers. In order to assess the act, and incidentally the ruling which sustained it, it will be helpful to sketch the basic voting structure provided in the United States Constitution