Libertarian law professor Richard Epstein's column this week is about the Voting Rights Act. He writes:
The Fifteenth Amendment, passed in 1870...entrenched two key constitutional principles. The first one was: "The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The second gives the Congress the power "to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
In dealing with the Fifteenth Amendment, the term "appropriate" is important. It indicates that Congress cannot do whatever it wants whenever it wants in enforcing the article….The Supreme Court should strike the VRA down and let Congress return to the drawing board for something better.