If that is indeed the case, it would be a powerful testament to changes in Congress and the Republican Party in just a few years. Think about it: In 2006, when the VRA was reauthorized 98-0 in the Senate and 390-33 in the House, Republicans controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress. The Bush Administration was taking flak for everything from Hurricane Katrina to the Jack Abramoff scandal. Opposition to the Iraq war was hitting a peak, and Donald Rumsfeld would resign a few months later. These weren't the halcyon days of bipartisan comity a la Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. This was seven years ago.

The idea that the Voting Rights Act reauthorization simply sailed through Congress back then is wrong, say advocates who worked on the 2006 passage. It was a long, tough fight that succeeded in difficult circumstances, despite opposition from many conservative and Southern legislators. The Georgia delegation was in open revolt; Rep. Steve King of Iowa crusaded against it. But the bill eventually did succeed, and that fact gives civil-rights advocates hope that they can do it again.

"There was a very robust debate seven years ago," said Julie Fernandes, who led the push for the bill for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in 2006. "There was a lot of back and forth. That's what the legislative process is all about. In the end, everyone pulled together -- from both parties -- and renewed key voter protections."

Then as now, congressional inaction was a possibility. The Bush Administration showed little willingness to get the reauthorization done; it fell to the civil-rights community to convince a GOP-dominated Congress that allowing the bill to expire would be seen as acting to kill it. But a few influential Republicans championed the bill, and the rest went along rather than create the ugly spectacle of their party standing in the way of civil-rights legislation.

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, a Republican who then chaired the Judiciary Committee, took the lead in rounding up support from the GOP in 2006. Sensenbrenner had worked on a previous renewal of the law in 1982 and believed strongly in its necessity. Today, Sensenbrenner again seems poised to advocate forcefully for Republicans to support a fix to the legislation. "The Voting Rights Act is vital to America's commitment to never again permit racial prejudices in the electoral process," Sensenbrenner said in a Wednesday statement. "My colleagues and I will work in a bipartisan fashion to update Section 4 to ensure Section 5 can be properly implemented to protect voting rights, especially for minorities."

Sensenbrenner is not alone. Two other Midwestern Republicans, Sean Duffy of Wisconsin and Steve Chabot of Ohio, also have expressed support for passing a fix to the legislation in response to the Court, according to The Hill. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, meanwhile, said he hoped his colleagues would "put politics aside ... and find a responsible path forward that ensures that the sacred obligation of voting in this country remains protected."