Much of the focus in advance of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act was on Section 5, which requires preclearance from the Justice Department or federal courts before a jurisdiction subject to the Voting Rights Act — those with histories of racial discrimination — can change their voting laws.

But the court did not rule on Section 5. Instead it struck down Section 4, which establishes which jurisdictions are subject to the extra scrutiny involved in preclearance. Think: old Confederacy states. So arguably the court went further in invalidating the law. More soon.

For all the other issues raised by the last two weeks of drama, I think we can say with little doubt that Snowden has put OJ epically to shame in teasing out the full dramatic potential of the slow speed chase genre. But what is he doing exactly? The Chinese clearly wanted to wash their hands of this as quickly as they could. We’re cashing out, they seemed to be saying, we don’t want anything to do with this mess of yours. But the Russians looked at it and said, Hey, play me in. We’d love to play this hand. Read More