The majority struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which includes a formula that determines which states must receive approval before changing voting laws, based on past racial discrimination.

The court did not strike down Section 5, which allows the federal government to require pre-approval. But without Section 4, Section 5 is largely without significance — unless Congress chooses to pass a new bill for determining which states would be covered.

Section 2 of the act forbids the denial of rights to any citizen based on race or color. This section is not at issue in the case and still applies, allowing lawsuits to be brought forth to block voting laws from going into effect.