The equal sovereignty principle as federalism sub-doctrine

In Shelby County v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required some jurisdictions that engaged in racial voting rights discrimination to preclear their election laws with the federal government before implementation. The chapter argues that the Court’s interpretation of the principle of equal sovereignty is an aggressive pro-federalism doctrine that is contrary to the text, structure, and history of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and one that stems from the Court’s perception that the reauthorized Voting Rights Act is interest group legislation that impermissibly benefits minority groups at the expense of the majority.