294
Thomas, J., dissenting
(Stevens, J., dissenting); South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 358-360 (1966) (Black, J., concurring and dissenting). The section's interference with state sovereignty is quite drastic—covered States and political subdivisions may not give effect to their policy choices affecting voting without first obtaining the Federal Government's approval. As Justice Powell wrote in City of Rome, the section's "encroachment is especially troubling because it destroys local control of the means of self-government, one of the central values of our polity." 446 U. S., at 201.
Despite these serious and undeniable costs, we have twice upheld the preclearance requirement as a constitutional exercise of Congress' Fifteenth Amendment enforcement power,5 first in Katzenbach and again in City of Rome. In those cases, we compared Congress' Fifteenth Amendment enforcement power to its broad authority under the Necessary and Proper Clause. See City of Rome, supra, at 175; Katzenbach, supra, at 326. But we have taken great care to emphasize that Congress' enforcement power is remedial in nature. See City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507, 516- 529 (1997); Katzenbach, supra, at 327-328.6
There can be no remedy without a wrong. Essential to our holdings in Katzenbach and City of Rome was our conclusion that Congress was remedying the effects of prior intentional racial discrimination. In both cases, we required Congress to have some evidence that the jurisdiction bur-5 The Fifteenth Amendment provides: "Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
"Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
6 Although City of Boerne involved the Fourteenth Amendment enforcement power, we have always treated the nature of the enforcement powers conferred by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments as coextensive. See, e. g., City of Boerne, 521 U. S., at 518-528; James v. Bowman, 190 U. S. 127 (1903).
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