Cite as: 517 U. S. 186 (1996)
Thomas, J., dissenting
constitutional doctrine to this statutory case, more by repetition than analysis, both opinions suggest that the meaning of the statutory term "State" in § 5 is necessarily coterminous with the constitutional doctrine of state action. See, ante, at 199-200, 210-219, 221 (opinion of Stevens, J.); ante, at 235-237 (Breyer, J., concurring in judgment). I cannot agree.
The text of § 5 does not support this constitutional gloss. There is a marked contrast between the language of § 5 and other federal statutes that we have read to be coextensive with the constitutional doctrine of state action. Specifically, 42 U. S. C. § 1983 has been accorded a reach equivalent to that of the Fourteenth Amendment. See Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U. S. 922, 934-935 (1982); United States v. Price, 383 U. S. 787, 794, n. 7 (1966). That statute provides a cause of action against "[e]very person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State" deprives any citizen of federal constitutional or statutory rights. 42 U. S. C. § 1983. Section 1983's coverage reasonably extends beyond official enactments of the State, since it expressly provides for coverage of persons who act under authority of the State. If Congress intended to incorporate state-action doctrine into § 5, one would expect § 5 to read more like § 1983. That is, it might require preclearance "whenever a State or political subdivision or any person acting under color of State law" seeks to enact voting changes.8 But § 5 does not read like § 1983.
8 Justice Stevens argues that this example does not by its terms cover political parties. See ante, at 221-222, n. 34. The criticism is beside the point, however, because the example is not intended to demonstrate how Congress could have covered political parties as such; that, of course, could be easily achieved by inserting "political parties" in the opening clause of § 5. Instead, the example is meant to emphasize that there is no textual basis for the conclusion that Congress imported the constitutional doctrine of state action into § 5. Because there is no evidence that Congress did so, Justice Stevens, as well as Justice Breyer, is wrong to use state-action doctrine as license to read "State" to mean "political party."
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