Cite as: 517 U. S. 186 (1996)
Thomas, J., dissenting
under § 10. See ante, at 233-234 (opinion of Stevens, J.). Section 3 is a generalized section of the Act, providing three-judge district courts with special authority in adjudicating Voting Rights Act claims. See 42 U. S. C. § 1973a. As appellants accurately state, § 3 "explicitly recognizes that private individuals can sue under the [Act]." Brief for Appellants 41. Section 3 does not, however, identify any of the provisions under which private plaintiffs may sue. The most logical deduction from the inclusion of "aggrieved person" in § 1973a is that Congress meant to address those cases brought pursuant to the private right of action that this Court had recognized as of 1975, i. e., suits under § 5, as well as any rights of action that we might recognize in the future. Section 14(e), which provides for attorney's fees to "the prevailing party, other than the United States," is likewise a general reference to private rights of action. Like § 3, § 14(e) fails to address the availability of a private right to sue under § 10. § 1973l(e).22
At bottom, appellants complain that unless a private cause of action exists under § 10, private plaintiffs will be forced to challenge poll taxes by bringing constitutional claims in single-judge district courts. This, they contend, "is directly contrary to the special procedures for adjudicating poll tax claims established by Congress in section 10." Brief for Appellants 38. It is appellants' claim, however, that flatly contravenes § 10. The only "special procedure" for litigating poll tax challenges that Congress created in § 10 is an action by the Attorney General on behalf of the United States.
22 It does not follow from Congress' technical amendment of § 10 in 1975, which Justice Breyer takes as an indication that "§ 10 remained an important civil rights provision," ante, at 240, that we should imply a cause of action thereunder. A statute outlawing a class of voting practices and authorizing the Attorney General of the United States to sue jurisdictions that engage in such practices is surely an "important" provision, even if not privately enforceable.
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