Morse v. Republican Party of Va., 517 U.S. 186, 75 (1996)

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260

MORSE v. REPUBLICAN PARTY OF VA.

Thomas, J., dissenting

controversy arose because § 14(c)(2) of the Act defines "political subdivision" as a county or parish, "except that where registration for voting is not conducted under the supervision of a county or parish, the term shall include any other subdivision of a State which conducts registration for voting." 42 U. S. C. § 1973l(c)(2). Notwithstanding the facts that the city was not a county or parish and that it did not register voters, the Court concluded that the city was subject to the preclearance requirement of § 5. The essence of Sheffield's rationale was that because the entire State of Alabama was designated for coverage pursuant to § 4(b), the city of Sheffield was covered by § 5 because it was a "political unit" (though not a "political subdivision") within Alabama. 435 U. S., at 127-128.

Whether or not Sheffield was correct as an original matter, it stands, at most, for the proposition that a local unit of government, like a city, may be considered the "State" for purposes of § 5: "[Section] 5 . . . applies territorially and includes political units like Sheffield whether or not they conduct voter registration." Id., at 130. In accordance with that proposition, we have applied Sheffield to find coverage of other types of governmental bodies under § 5. See, e. g., Dougherty County Bd. of Ed. v. White, 439 U. S. 32, 45 (1978) (finding § 5 coverage of county school board under Sheffield and noting that "[i]f only those governmental units with official electoral obligations actuate the preclearance requirements of § 5," the purposes of the Act could be undermined) (emphasis added). But we have never applied Sheffield to find a nongovernmental organization to be within the scope of § 5. This is because Sheffield says little about the question whether a group that does not operate in the name of the State, or in the name of any governmental unit of a State, must comply with § 5. If anything, Sheffield suggests, with respect to this case, that a political party is not so obligated, because a political party is quite plainly neither a territorial

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