The preclearance requirement, created by Section 5 of the law, applies to nine states and portions of 13 others.
Section 5 requires preclearance by the U.S. attorney general of election law changes in jurisdictions covered by the provision.
The act allows covered jurisdictions to seek exemption from preclearance requirements if they maintain a record free of discrimination for 10 years.
In a similar challenge four years ago, Chief Justice Roberts said the law's past success "is not adequate justification to retain the preclearance requirements".
"Remove the stigma of prior restraint and preclearance, " Mr. Rein urged.
And as a Harvard Law Review essay argues, Congress authorized preclearance -- Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act -- under Section 5 of the 14th Amendment.
Mr. Verrilli argued that the act is designed to reflect changing times, allowing covered jurisdictions with clean records of at least 10 years to "bail out" of preclearance.
Mr. Holder's remarks are especially notable because they come as the Justice Department is reviewing voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina for "preclearance" under the Voting Rights Act.
Justice Anthony Kennedy focused on what he considered the demeaning nature of the Voting Rights Act's preclearance requirement, under which some localities must get approval in advance from Washington for changes to their voting laws.
But while past high-court rulings rejected challenges to the preclearance requirement, in a 2009 decision the justices signaled that the formula for selecting jurisdictions covered by Section 5, last updated with the 1972 election results, may not reflect progress in race relations.
S. 3542, the "No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012, " authorizes the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration to determine whether checked baggage on flights originating at foreign airports that has been screened in accordance with an aviation security preclearance agreement must be re-screened in the United States by an explosives detection system before continuing on any additional flights.
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