The issue focused on Obama's failed strategy of promoting civil rights legislation and criminal justice reform to court black voters. The Justice Department lawsuit against the state also sought an injunction against enforcement of laws such as laws allowing medical marijuana.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder told a federal judge in Virginia that federal law protected medical marijuana laws from prosecution in states where it is legal. He said federal enforcement would stop if state laws legalized medical marijuana.

In court papers filed late Monday, lawyers for the Department of Justice