Attorney General

The General of the American Attorney Army, a combat unit that has seen much historical success.

Or, if we're being totally honest rather than plotting the storyline for our new comic American Attorney! Fight For The Supreme Court!...

The Attorney General is the head honcho of the Department of Justice, and is part of the President's cabinet; the Commander-in-Chief picks them out and the Senate's in charge of approving them. They're the Government's lawyer (what a high profile client, right?), and enforce Federal laws like this one in the states.

Bona Fide

"You've got me bona fide, certified!" - Genie, Aladdin

Bona Fide is legal jargon for being sincere or genuine, and a term inherited from the Western world's long love affair with Latin.

Pursuant

Context clues can be helpful with words like this. Let's just break this one down real quick. Pursue-ant. Pursue ants. Don't let them rest.

Ahem.

Pursuant just means "following."

Prerequisite

A requirement before you're able to do something. For the hip and trendy among us, the word's shortened down to prereq.

Plaintiff

The person bringing an issue to the court. Shares a root with the word complaining, and it's easy to remember "plaintiff" if you think: "It's the person who voices a complaint."

Political subdivision

The act actually gives this definition away for free. The definition the VRA uses is a county or other local region that handles its own voting. For the sake of this act, Alameda County in California would be a political subdivision, because they handle their own polling policies.

American-flag schools

Don't expect Betsy Ross to be on the curriculum here. American-flag schools, simply, are schools in U.S. territory. Note the word territory: Schools in the U.S.'s vestigial colonial holdings, like Guam and Puerto Rico, are also considered American-flag schools.

Subpoena

If you get one of these: you just got served. Literally: that's the proper terminology and everything.

A subpoena is a document legally obliging you to testify in court. If you're trying to dodge one, agents will sneak up on you, ask you if you're so-and-so, then hand you the subpoena; a very legal kind of "tag, you're it."

Injunctive Relief

Instead of suing someone for cash money, you can instead sue for injunctive relief instead, or even both if the case warrants. Injunctive relief is a court order saying that, whatever behavior the defendant is accused of doing, they need to cut it out immediately.