An Austin utility district is the plaintiff in a case challenging a section of the Voting Rights Act. The case will be decided by the Supreme Court. NYTimes.com has the story:

The case concerns the requirement in Section 5 of the law that certain state and local governments, mostly in the South, must obtain permission, or “preclearance,” from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes that affect voting. ...

The lawsuit challenging the requirement was brought by a municipal utility district in Austin, Tex., established on undeveloped land there in the late 1980s. The district said it had never been accused of voting discrimination and should not be made to seek federal permission to, say, move the location of polling places or consolidate voting for its five-member board with the larger county ballot.

Here's a take by The Christian Science Monitor and one by USA Today, which says the court will hear the case in April.