The Supreme Court building, Washington, DC (Wikimedia Commons)

Conservative justices questioned a central provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on Wednesday, with Justice Antonin Scalia calling it a "perpetuation of racial entitlement."

The provision requires nine states– mostly in the South– to get federal permission before changing voting procedures in order to prevent racial exclusion.

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According to The New York Times, the law was "a landmark achievement of the civil rights era" and is now being challenged by Shelby County, Ala., which said that "the requirement had outlived its usefulness and that it imposed an unwarranted badge of shame on the affected jurisdictions."

The Times also reported that the Supreme Court's more liberal justices have voiced their disagreement, saying the provision is still necessary.

“It’s an old disease,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer said of efforts to thwart minority voting. “It’s gotten a lot better. A lot better. But it’s still there.”

Read the full story at The New York Times.

Find more Neon Tommy coverage of the Voting Rights Act here.

Reach Executive Producer Paige Brettingen here. Follow her here.