The John Lewis Act would reaffirm Congress’s central role in protecting the right to vote against racially discriminatory changes. It t would restore provisions of the Voting Rights Act (Sections 4 and 5) that were effectively invalidated by the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder. When enacted in 1965, these provisions identified certain parts of the country and put their voting systems under a regime of federal control. These areas had to submit voting changes to the federal government, which had the power to block a proposal if it would diminish minority voter power. The federal government does not normally have veto power over state laws, but Section 5 created one. In the Shelby County case, the Supreme Court said that the coverage formula was no longer tied to “current conditions” but that Congress could draft an updated formula.That is precisely what the John Lewis Act aims to do. "
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