JUNE 26, 2013
Supreme Court Strikes Down Outdated Provision in Voting Rights Act
In its Voting Rights Act decision yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down an outdated provision that was no longer necessary—because thankfully, “Our country has changed,” as Chief Justice John Roberts put it.
The decision did not invalidate the entire Voting Rights Act, and it will not promote discrimination. In fact, it is a huge victory for federalism and a sign of the tremendous racial progress that this country has made since the time the Voting Rights Act was passed.
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act. Section 4(b) provides the coverage formula for Section 5, which requires certain jurisdictions (nine states and some counties in six others) to seek preclearance from the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington, D.C., before making changes to voting laws—an extraordinary intrusion into state sovereignty and principles of federalism.
Section 5 turns states’ equal sovereignty on its head, but the Supreme Court upheld the law in the 1960s based on the dire and exceptional conditions then present in the covered jurisdictions where official, systematic, and widespread discrimination in voting existed at that time, but which, fortunately, does not exist today.
The Court held that current burdens must be justified by current needs and that the “coverage formula met that test in 1965, but no longer does so.”
Further, the Fifteenth Amendment, which provides that “[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged…on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” was “not designed to punish for the past; its purpose is to ensure a better future.”
States such as Mississippi and Georgia now have some of the highest turnout rates among African American voters — exceeding that of white voters. The Court highlighted this, noting that “things have dramatically changed…no doubt…in large part because of the Voting Rights Act.” Nevertheless, the “extraordinary and unprecedented features” of Sections 4(b) and 5 were reauthorized “as if nothing had changed” based on “decades-old data and eradicated practices.”
Significantly, this decision does not affect Section 2, which is a permanent, nationwide ban on racial discrimination in voting and can still be used to challenge discriminatory practices if they occur. While discrimination still exists and should be addressed, the widespread, blatant discriminatory governmental practices of the Jim Crow South are a thing of the past, and this is a cause for celebration. Get the full analysis and offer your comments online >>
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