Well, they avoided the main constitutionality question concerning the Voting Rights Act, but the US Supreme Court ruled for Northwest Austin M.U.D. #1, saying it can bypass the preclearance requirement when moving polling locations. A lower court had ruled otherwise.

The Voting Rights Act requires all or parts of 16 states with a history of discrimination in voting to get approval in advance of making changes in the way elections are conducted.

Writing for the Court, Chief Justice Roberts clarified that the Court is not ruling on the larger constitutionality of this provision (Section 5).

Justice Clarence Thomas, however, said, "The violence, intimidation and subterfuge that led Congress to pass Section 5 and this court to uphold it no longer remains." Given the opportunity, Thomas would have ruled Section 5 unconstitutional altogether.

A small victory for liberty, to be sure, but a victory nonetheless. The Court ruled for the M.U.D. with only one dissenting vote.

Read the full brief here.

Read earlier posts on preclearance and the Voting Rights Act here and here via Blue Dot Blues.  Also check out the Goldwater Institute's amicus brief in the case.

(H/T @frankreilly and @wbaustin via Twitter)