U.S. Constitution · Amendment XV, Section 2 · ratified 1870-02-03

Enforcement Clause

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Alerts when a new grade, SI Solution or Think Tank idea cites Amend. XV, § 2.

Also known as: Enforcement Clause

Live in the VFA record

Cited in 1 Constitution Index grade this month.

2 public items cite this provision · 1 in October 2026 (last month: 0)

Citations per week, last 12 weeks

The text

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

National Archives transcription (public domain; original spelling and capitalization). archives.gov

SI explainer

An explainer for this provision is in the queue. It appears here once it passes the SI Editorial Standard’s automated checks. The text, founding-era sources and live citations below are complete.

Leading Supreme Court cases

South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301 (1966)
Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112 (1970) · superseded in part by the Twenty-sixth Amendment
Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013)
Allen v. Milligan, 599 U.S. 1 (2023) · the Gingles framework it applied was updated by Louisiana v. Callais (2026)
Louisiana v. Callais, 608 U.S. ___ (2026)

Cited in the VFA record

“Where this provision is cited”

SI Solutions (1)

Re-decided holding: Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as applied through the Fifteenth Amendment, requires states to draw districts that do not dilute minority voting strength, but the remedy must b
2026-06-06

grades (1)

H.R. 14: John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2025
2026-10-11 · Grade C (Significant issues)

Roll-call votes are listed when the measure voted on has a current Constitution Index grade citing this provision. Counts include only published items.

Cite this page

Values for America Constitution Explorer, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution (text: National Archives transcription, public domain), Amendment XV, Section 2, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution/amendment-15/section-2

Data: this provision as JSON.