The Supreme Court said Friday that it will take up a battle over a key part of the landmark Voting Rights Act, agreeing to hear another important case on race in America. Congress passed the law in 1965 and has since renewed the measure four times, most recently in 2006. A key provision requires states with a history of discrimination at the polls to get federal permission before making any changes to election procedures. The law was at the heart of legal cases blocking strict new voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina. Shelby County in Alabama claims the requirement, which covers 12 cities and 57 counties, is unconstitutional and presumes states to be acting improperly when they seek election changes of any kind. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education fund says the current map covers the areas of concern closely enough. "Congress is not a surgeon with a scalpel when it acts to legislate across the 50 states," the group said, "but it can reasonably attack discrimination where it finds it."
