List of Tables and FiguresAcknowledgments Introduction Congressional Authority and Voting Rights EnforcementA Retrospective and Prospective Look at the Voting Rights ActChapter 1 Why Discretion Matters in Voting Rights EnforcementChapter 2 Obamaamp39s Inheritance The Johnson Framework the VRA and Faith in Federal PowerThe Challenge to Congressional AuthorityChapter 3 Misdirection Political Theatre and the 2006 Reauthorization of Section 5Chapter 4 Partisan Spoils of Office A postShaw Judicial Philosophy of Civic LiteracyChapter 5 Is ampquotBull Connorampquot Dead Contemporary Public Opinion on Voting Rights PolicyChapter 6 A Battle of Principals Congress the DOJ and the George W. Bush AdministrationA Systems Theory Approach to EnforcementChapter 7 The MacroPolitical Context Shaping Enfranchisement 20002008Conclusion Regulating Discretion and the Challenge of PostRacial PoliticsAppendix 1Appendix 2Selected Bibliography