Top Democrat Opposes Shelby County

     U.S. Senate majority leader Harry Reid is among those who have filed friend of the court briefs in Shelby County's challenge to a section of the Voting Rights Act.
     Congress voted to renew the act for another 25 years in 2006, and that prompted some Southern states and municipalities to appeal to the courts for relief.
     Shelby officials object to the pre-clearance portion of the law. It requires states that tried their hardest of block voting by African-Americans during the Civil Rights era to get an OK from the U.S. Justice Department before changing election laws.
     The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the case.