
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 5, 1993                   TAG: 9310050102
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

HIGH COURT TO REVIEW VOTING ACT

Courts sometimes go too far in enforcing federal voting-rights protections for minorities, the Supreme Court was told Monday by lawyers seeking to overturn remedies ordered in Florida and Georgia.

But attorneys for Hispanics in Florida and blacks in Georgia's Bleckley County argued that lower courts properly ordered new election plans to give minorities more political clout.

The two cases, argued on the first day of the 1993-94 term, will give the high court a new chance to clarify the requirements, and limits, of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Clinton administration joined the Florida Hispanics' argument that a federal court properly ordered the creation of two additional Hispanic-dominated seats for the state House of Representatives.

In the Georgia case, the county's attorney said the Voting Rights Act does not require counties to change their government to give minorities a stronger voice.

by CNB