Aggressive enforcement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act transformed American politics, especially in the South, by making sure minorities had a clear path to the ballot box and an equal shot at public service. Forty-eight years later, after the re-election of an African-American president, the heart of that law is on trial. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Feb. 27 in a case that is sure to ignite a national debate over how far the country has progressed on racial issues and whether minority voters still need extra protection. State officials in South Carolina, where one of the first challenges to the Voting Right Act originated in the 1960s, are split in how they see the most recent case. The case began when Shelby County, Ala., opposed by the Justice Department and civil rights groups, asked courts to declare two key sections of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional.
Section 5 bars election officials in jurisdictions with a history of discrimination, including South Carolina, from changing their voting procedures unless they first prove the changes won’t hurt minorities. Section 4b uses a formula to determine which states, counties and municipalities are subject to Section 5.
Shelby County says the provisions are outmoded and unfair to parts of the country that have transcended their discriminatory pasts.
Civil rights groups counter that the provisions are the best defense against a return to the days when racism permeated election procedures in many parts of the country, particularly the South.
“This idea that we can stop with the job half done and see how it works out – that is not meeting the promise and possibility of the Constitution,” said Debo Adegbile, counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and a lawyer in the case.
Full Article: State Officials Divided on Challenge to Voting Rights Act | wltx.com.