Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday asked Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who was defending the law, whether the government was contending that citizens in the South were more racist than those in Northern states.

WSJ: Justices Question Aspects of Voting Rights Act

Chief Justice John Roberts put the question crisply the other way when he asked Solicitor General Donald Verrilli if Congress would have violated state powers if in 1996 it had instead adopted same-sex marriage at the federal level?

WSJ: Review & Outlook: 'Til the Supreme Court Do Us Part