On the one-year anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a core provision of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, Democrats and civil rights groups stepped up their push for a congressional fix. Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black to lead the Justice Department, assailed a Wisconsin voter identification law that he said impaired voting by minorities “without serving any legitimate government interest.” A federal judge struck down the law in April, but Wisconsin’s attorney general has filed an appeal. On Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on bipartisan legislation aimed at updating the nearly half Century-old Voting Rights Act with a new formula for determining which jurisdictions would be required to clear with the Justice Department election changes that might disproportionately impact minority voters.
And the National Commission on Voting Rights, a project organized by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, released a report suggesting that 10 of California’s 58 counties have failed to keep pace in drawing majority Latino districts despite evidence of “racially polarized voting.” The panel is taking testimony on barriers to minority access to the polls in states across the country to underscore the impact of the high court’s decision, which freed 15 states and parts of states from Justice Department pre-clearance requirements.
Full Article: WASHINGTON: A year later, Holder, civil rights groups decry impact of voting rights ruling | Washington Watch | McClatchy DC.