Anthony Kennedy

“ Katzenbach was cited to demonstrate Congress' concern for the protection of voting rights. Neither the appellants nor the United States has pointed to anything we said there or in the statutes reenacting the Voting Rights Act to suggest that Congress meant other than what it said when it made § 5 applicable to changes "with respect to voting" rather than, say, changes "with respect to governance."
If federalism is to operate as a practical system of governance and not a mere poetic ideal, the States must be allowed both predictability and efficiency in structuring their governments. ”

“ The question whether power is shifted among officials answerable to the same or different constituencies is quite distinct from the question whether the power voters exercise over elected officials is affected. Intraconstituency changes may have a large indirect effect on the voters while interconstituency changes may have a small indirect effect, but in neither case is the effect a change in voting for purposes of the Act. The test adopted by the District Court does not provide the workable rule we seek. ”

“ A simple example shows the inadequacy of the line proffered by the appellants and the United States. Under the appellants' view, every time a covered jurisdiction passed a budget that differed from the previous year's budget it would be required to obtain preclearance. The amount of funds available to an elected official has a profound effect on the power exercised. A vote for an ill-funded official is less valuable than a vote for a well-funded one. ”

“ All functions, duties and responsibilities for the construction, maintenance and repair of public roads, highways, bridges and ferries in Russell County are hereby vested in the county engineer, who shall, insofar as possible, construct and maintain such roads, highways, bridges and ferries on the basis of the county as a whole or as a unit, without regard to district or beat lines. ”

“ We need not consider here whether an otherwise uncovered enactment of a jurisdiction subject to the Voting Rights Act might under some circumstances rise to the level of a de facto replacement of an elective office with an appointive one, within the rule of Bunton v. Patterson. For present purposes it suffices to note that the Russell County Commission retains substantial authority, including the power to appoint the county engineer and to set his or her budget. The change at issue in Russell County is not a covered change. ”

“ Like the members of the Etowah County Commission before the consent decree change, Russell County Commissioners were elected at large by the entire electorate, subject to a requirement that a candidate for commissioner reside in the district corresponding to the seat he or she sought. ”

“ This approach, however, would ignore the rationale for our holding: "after the change, [the citizen] is prohibited from electing an officer formerly subject to the approval of the voters." Allen, 393 U.S., at 569-570, 89 S.Ct., at 569-570. In short, the change in Bunton v. Patterson involved a rule governing voting not because it affected a change in the relative authority of various governmental officials, but because it changed an elective office to an appointive one.
The change in Russell County does not prohibit voters "from electing an officer formerly subject to the [ir] approval." ”

“ So too, when a state or local body alters its internal operating procedures, for example by modifying its subcommittee assignment system, it "implicate [s] an elected official's decisionmaking authority." ”