Cite as: 525 U. S. 266 (1999)
Syllabus
§ 5's use of "seek" require an act of discretion by the covered jurisdiction. In this context, "seek" is more readily understood as creating a temporal distinction; a covered jurisdiction need not seek preclearance before enacting legislation that would effect a voting change but must seek preclearance before actually administering such a change. The Court's reading is supported by its prior assumption that preclearance is required where a noncovered State effects voting changes in covered counties, see, e. g., United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburgh, Inc. v. Carey, 430 U. S. 144, 148-149, 162, and by numerous preclearance submissions received by the Justice Department and cases before the lower federal courts in which interested parties have labored under such an assumption, see, e. g., Shaw v. Reno, 509 U. S. 630, 634. Finally, it is especially relevant that the Attorney General has consistently construed § 5 as does this Court. Her interpretation is entitled to substantial deference in light of her central role in implementing § 5. Pp. 277-282.
(b) This interpretation does not unconstitutionally tread on rights reserved to the States. Although recognizing that the Act imposes substantial "federalism costs," Miller v. Johnson, 515 U. S. 900, 926, this Court has likewise acknowledged that the Reconstruction Amend-ments—which include the Fifteenth Amendment under which the Act was passed—by their nature contemplate some intrusion into areas traditionally reserved to the States. Legislation that deters or remedies constitutional violations can fall within the sweep of Congress' enforcement power even if it prohibits conduct that is not itself unconstitutional and intrudes into such areas. City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507, 518. Moreover, the Court has specifically upheld the constitutionality of § 5 against a challenge that this provision usurps powers reserved to the States. See, e. g., South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 327-335. Nor does Katzenbach require a different result where, as here, § 5 is held to cover acts initiated by noncovered States. The Court there recognized that, once a jurisdiction has been designated as covered, the Act may guard against both discriminatory animus and the potentially harmful effect of neutral laws in that jurisdiction. Id., at 333-334. This is precisely what § 5's text requires when it provides that the District Court for the District of Columbia may preclear a proposed voting change only if the court concludes that the change "does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying . . . the right to vote" on account of an impermissible classification (emphasis added). The Attorney General employs the same standard in deciding whether to object to a proposed voting change. Thus, there is no merit to California's claim that Congress lacks Fifteenth Amendment authority to require federal approval before the implementation of a state law that may have a discriminatory effect in a covered county. Moreover,
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