In 1965, Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach proposed something remarkable:

Put a broad right to vote directly into the Constitution.

His proposed amendment would have sharply limited the voting qualifications states could impose.

Martin Luther King Jr. opposed taking that route.

Not because he thought constitutional protection was unimportant.

Because Black Americans could not wait.

People were being denied registration in real time. Selma was happening in real time. A constitutional amendment required two-thirds of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

King wanted immediate federal power.

He won the argument.

And the result was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most effective civil-rights laws in American history.

But there was a tradeoff.

The VRA remained a statute enforced through Congress's constitutional authority.

That meant a future Supreme Court could decide how much of that enforcement power Congress was allowed to use.

And eventually it did.

Shelby County disabled the preclearance system's coverage formula.

Brnovich narrowed another path for challenging discriminatory voting rules.

Callais has now made racial vote-dilution claims substantially harder.

The historical irony is extraordinary:

King was right that Black Americans could not wait in 1965.

Katzenbach may also have understood what would be harder to dismantle in 2013, 2021 and 2026.

The civil-rights movement won immediate political power through legislation.

Sixty years later, we are learning the difference between a right Congress protects and a right the Constitution states plainly.

King won the battle against time.
The Roberts Supreme Court showed how much time can matter.