Cite as: 525 U. S. 266 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
the process it prohibits conduct which is not itself unconstitutional and intrudes into legislative spheres of autonomy previously reserved to the States." City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507, 518 (1997) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
Moreover, we have specifically upheld the constitutionality of § 5 of the Act against a challenge that this provision usurps powers reserved to the States. See South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 334-335 (1966); see also City of Rome v. United States, supra, at 178-183. Nor does Katzenbach require a different result where, as here, § 5 is held to cover acts initiated by noncovered States. The Court in Katzenbach recognized that, once a jurisdiction has been designated, the Act may guard against both discriminatory animus and the potentially harmful effect of neutral laws in that jurisdiction. 383 U. S., at 333-334. In City of Rome, we thus expressly reaffirmed that, "under the Fifteenth Amendment, Congress may prohibit voting practices that have only a discriminatory effect." 446 U. S., at 175; see also id., at 178-180 (upholding preclearance requirement against federalism challenge).
This is, moreover, precisely what the text of § 5 requires. The United States 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 or abridging the right to vote" on the basis of an impermissible classification. 42 U. S. C. § 1973c (emphasis added). The Attorney General employs the same standard in deciding whether to object to a proposed voting change. See 28 CFR § 51.52(a) (1997).
Recognizing that Congress has the constitutional authority to designate covered jurisdictions and to guard against changes that give rise to a discriminatory effect in those jurisdictions, we find no merit in the claim that Congress lacks Fifteenth Amendment authority to require federal approval before the implementation of a state law that may
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