Stuart Taylor writes this provocative National Journal column on VRA renewal. It begins: “When conservative Republicans such as House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist jointly sponsor Voting Rights Act amendments with such liberal Democrats as Rep. John Conyers and Sen. Edward Kennedy, be suspicious.”
Two more snippets:

As for the Republicans, they are terrified of being characterized as racists if they oppose anything that carries the :voting-rights” label. Such demagoguing works because most Americans don’t understand that this legislation is not mainly about the basic right to cast a meaningful ballot — which is secure — but about mandating safe seats for incumbents and other minority politicians.
Second, many Republicans also believe — perhaps incorrectly — that drawing so-called “majority-minority” urban districts for black and Hispanic Democrats will “bleach” the surrounding suburban districts and thus help Republicans beat white, moderate Democrats there. That was the result of the racial gerrymanders of the 1990s: The number of (very liberal) black and Hispanic Democrats in the House went up; the number of (more moderate) white Democrats went down — and this helped Republicans take and keep control of the House. This was good for black and Hispanic politicians. It was not so good for black and Hispanic voters.

And:

Once Democrats win the presidency, they will have the motive, the means, and the opportunity to stick it to Republicans by manipulating the Justice Department’s enlarged power over state and local voting rules in the nine covered states — all of them red. And Democrats have become more adept since the 1990s at creating fairly safe seats for black and Hispanic Democrats without making the adjacent suburban districts safe for Republicans.