Cite as: 520 U. S. 471 (1997)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
dilution, see ante, at 480. They merely preclude preclearance when "necessary to prevent a clear violation of . . . section 2." While the burden of disproving discriminatory purpose or retrogressive effect is on the submitting jurisdiction, if the Attorney General's conclusion that the change would clearly violate § 2 is challenged, the burden on that issue, as in any § 2 challenge, should rest on the Attorney General.5
The Court does not suggest that this regulation is inconsistent with the text of § 5. Nor would this be persuasive, since the language of § 5 forbids preclearance of any voting practice that would have "the purpose [or] effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color." 42 U. S. C. § 1973c. Instead the Court rests its entire analysis on the flawed premise that our cases hold that a change, even if otherwise unlawful, cannot have an effect prohibited by § 5 unless that effect is retrogressive. The two cases on which the Court relies, Beer v. United States, 425 U. S. 130 (1976), and City of Lockhart v. United States, 460 U. S. 125 (1983), do hold (as the current regulations provide) that proof that a change is not retrogressive is normally sufficient to justify preclearance under § 5. In neither case, however, was the Court confronted with the question whether that showing would be sufficient if the proposed change was so discriminatory that it clearly violated some other federal law.
5 Thus, I agree with those courts that have found that the jurisdiction is not required to prove that its proposed change will not violate § 2 in order to receive preclearance. See Arizona v. Reno, 887 F. Supp. 318, 321 (DC 1995). Although several three-judge District Courts have concluded that § 2 standards should not be incorporated into § 5, none has held that preclearance should be granted when there is a clear violation of § 2; rather, they appear simply to have determined that a § 2 inquiry is not routinely required in a § 5 case. See, e. g., Georgia v. Reno, 881 F. Supp. 7, 12-14 (DC 1994); New York v. United States, 874 F. Supp. 394, 398-399 (DC 1994); cf. Burton v. Sheheen, 793 F. Supp. 1329, 1350 (SC 1992) (holding that although courts are not "obligated to completely graft" § 2 standards onto § 5, "[i]t would be incongruous for the court to adopt a plan which did not comport with the standards and guidelines of § 2").
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