190
Opinion of Stevens, J.
Justice Stevens announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which Justice Ginsburg joins.
In 1994, all registered voters in Virginia who were willing to declare their intent to support the Republican Party's nominees for public office at the next election could participate in the nomination of the Party's candidate for the office of United States Senator if they paid either a $35 or $45 registration fee. Appellants contend that the imposition of that fee as a condition precedent to participation in the candidate selection process was a poll tax prohibited by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The questions we must decide are whether § 5 of the Act required preclearance of the Party's decision to exact the fee and whether appellants were permitted to challenge it as a poll tax prohibited by § 10.
I
On December 16, 1993, the Republican Party of Virginia (Party) issued a call for a state convention to be held on June 3, 1994, to nominate the Republican candidate for United States Senator. The call invited all registered voters in Virginia to participate in local mass meetings, canvasses, or conventions to be conducted by officials of the Party. Any voter could be certified as a delegate to the state convention by a local political committee upon payment of a registration fee of $35 or $45 depending on the date of certification. Over 14,000 voters paid the fee and took part in the convention.
In response to the call, appellants Bartholomew, Enderson, and Morse sought to become delegates to the convention.
and for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
by Ronald D. Maines, Dennis Courtland Hayes, and Willie Abrams.
James S. Gilmore III, Attorney General, David E. Anderson, Chief Deputy Attorney General, John Paul Woodley, Jr., and William H. Hurd, Deputy Attorneys General, and Maureen Riley Matsen, Assistant Attorney General, filed a brief for the Commonwealth of Virginia as amicus curiae urging affirmance.
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