Shelby County, Alabama, challenged the Voting Rights Act’s requirement that certain jurisdictions obtain federal preclearance before changing voting procedures. The Act’s Section 4(b) formula identified covered jurisdictions using voter-registration and turnout data from the 1960s and early 1970s; Georgia was among the covered States. The Supreme Court held that the formula was unconstitutional because it continued to impose extraordinary, geographically unequal federal burdens based on decades-old conditions rather than current needs. The Court reasoned that the formula had once been rationally related to pervasive voting discrimination, but that the record no longer justified treating the covered jurisdictions differently from the rest of the Nation. It reversed the lower-court judgment and rendered Section 5 inoperative because Section 5 could function only through a valid coverage formula. The Court did not invalidate Section 2, which independently prohibits voting discrimination nationwide, and it invited Congress to enact a current formula. Justice Thomas concurred, arguing that Section 5 itself was unconstitutional. Justice Ginsburg dissented, emphasizing continuing discrimination and Congress’s extensive 2006 record supporting reauthorization.