10
Syllabus
by laches; that it is constitutionally improper to designate the County a covered jurisdiction under § 5; and that the consolidation ordinances did not alter a voting "standard, practice, or procedure" subject to § 5 pre-clearance. Pp. 19-20. 2. The District Court's order that the County conduct elections under its unprecleared, at-large judicial election plan conflicts with Clark v. Roemer, 500 U. S. 646, 652-653, in which the Court held, among other things, that a voting change subject to § 5 is unenforceable unless pre-cleared and that § 5 plaintiffs are entitled to an injunction prohibiting implementation of an unprecleared change. Thus, an injunction is required where, as here, a district court must decide whether to allow illegal elections to go forward. Id., at 654. There is no "extreme circumstance" here that might justify allowing the 1996 elections to proceed, cf. id., at 654-655, and the District Court has not independently crafted a remedial electoral plan such as might render the preclearance requirements inapplicable, see McDaniel v. Sanchez, 452 U. S. 130, 148- 150. Nor is the preclearance process' basic nature changed by the complicating factors that a simple injunction could leave the County without a judicial election system because a return to the 1968 plan appears impractical, and that the parties seem unable to fashion a plan that does not contravene California law. Congress gave exclusive authority to pass on an election change's discriminatory effect or purpose to the federal authorities designated in § 5. See id., at 151. On a complaint alleging failure to preclear election changes under § 5, a three-judge district court may determine only whether § 5 covers a contested change, whether § 5's approval requirements were satisfied, and if the requirements were not satisfied, what temporary remedy, if any, is appropriate. See City of Lockhart v. United States, 460 U. S. 125, 129, n. 3. The goal of a three-judge district court facing a § 5 challenge must be to ensure that the covered jurisdiction submits its election plan to the appropriate federal authorities for preclearance as expeditiously as possible. Here, by protracting this litigation in order to obtain a plan that complied both with § 5 and with state law, the District Court interposed itself into the § 5 approval process in a way that the statute does not contemplate. Cf., e. g., Upham v. Seamon, 456 U. S. 37, 42-43 (per curiam). Pp. 20-25.
Reversed and remanded.
O'Connor, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Joaquin G. Avila argued the cause for appellants. With him on the briefs were Robert Rubin, Anthony Chavez, Antonia Hernández, and Richard M. Pearl.
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