WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from lawyers representing Shelby County, Alabama, who tried to recover $2 million in attorney fees from the U.S. government in a case that nullified a key part of the Voting Rights Act.
The justices this week let stand a lower court ruling that said the county's civil rights lawsuit did not advance the law's anti-discriminatory purposes and didn't qualify for fee recovery.
Shelby County had prevailed in 2013 when the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to eliminate the Justice Department's ability to stop potentially discriminatory voting laws before they take effect.
The county argued that winning the case allowed it to recover attorney fees. But a federal appeals court said Congress was not trying to encourage litigation "to neuter the act's central tool."
- Posted January 26, 2016
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Court rejects county's appeal over legal fees
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