Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act (VRA)

I. THE GEORGIABAMA STATE FELON DISFRANCHISEMENT STATUTE VIOLATES SECTION 2 OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT.

A. Section 2 of the VRA is Constitutional.
The Fifteenth Amendment states that “[t]he right 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.” U.S. Const. amend. XV. Section 2 of the Fifteenth Amendment grants Congress the power to enforce the article by appropriate legislation. U.S. Const. amend. XV, § 2. The VRA is the exercise of that power.
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965 to affirm the fundamental rights of each citizen to participate in elections. The current version of Section 2 of the VRA provides:

City of Mobile, Ala. v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 60 (1980). The sparse legislative history of Section 2 makes clear that it is intended to have an effect no different from that of the Fifteenth Amendment itself. Id.
In Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952, 990 (1996), Justice O’Connor explained in her concurring opinion that, although the Court has not directly addressed the constitutionality of Section 2 of the VRA, the Court has interpreted and enforced the obligation it places upon the states. In Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 2612, 2619 (2013, the Court upheld the constitutionality of Section 2 of the VRA. Section 2 of the VRA was “not at issue”. It “is permanent” and “applies nationwide”. Id.
Petitioner erroneously claims that the holding in Shelby applies to Section 2 of the VRA, and that the Court requires all sections of the VRA to be justified by current needs. The Court in Shelby, citing an earlier decision, stated that the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the VRA must be justified by current needs. See Shelby, 133 S. Ct. 2612 at XXX (citing Nw. Austin Mun. Util. Dist. No. One v. Holder, 557 U.S. 193, 193 (2009)). In this case, application of Section 5 of the VRA is not at