Supreme Court Sidesteps Major Voting-Rights Ruling

The Supreme Court ruled narrowly today in a challenge to the Voting Rights Act, exempting a small Texas district from a key provision of the law, but side-stepping the larger constitutional issue. The act requires Southern areas with a history of discrimination to get advance federal approval before changing election procedures. The larger issue of whether the law is still necessary, “is a difficult constitutional question we do not answer today,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

In other Supreme Court news:

• The court ruled 6-3 that parents who place their special-education students in private schools can seek public reimbursement.
• In another 6-3 ruling, the court upheld a permit to dump gold-mine waste in an Alaska lake, saying it had been improperly blocked on environmental grounds.
• The court declined to revive Valerie Plame's lawsuit over her leaked identity.

(More US Supreme Court stories.)