ChineseTiger1986
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2010
- Messages
- 23,530
- Reaction score
- 12
- Country
- Location
Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act, Sparking Fears of Rollback for Minorities Long After Jim Crow
In a major blow for voting rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has invalidated an integral part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, the crowning achievement of the 1960s civil rights movement. In a 5-to-4 decision, justices ruled Congress has used obsolete information in continuing to require nine states with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval for changes to voting rules. In recent years, Democrats have accused Republicans at the state level of enacting measures including congressional redistricting and voter identification laws to suppress the vote of minority groups likely to support Democratic candidates. We get reaction from three guests: Rev. Jesse Jackson, veteran civil rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition; Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Ari Berman, a reporter who covers voting rights for The Nation. "This cuts at the heart of the whole idea of a broad American social fabric," Rev. Jackson says. Berman adds that the challenge came before the high court out of "a determined movement by conservatives to gut the most important civil rights law in the past 50 years."
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: In a major blow for voting rights, the Supreme Court has gutted an integral part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. The act was a crowning achievement of the civil rights movement and helped transform the South. On Tuesday, in a five-to-four decision, the justices ruled that Congress had used obsolete information in continuing to require nine states, mainly in the South, to obtain federal approval for voting rule changes affecting minority voters. The Voting Rights Act was challenged by Shelby County, Alabama, which argued the preclearance requirement has outlived its usefulness.
Congressman John Lewis of Georgia reacted to Tuesdays ruling on MSNBC. He was nearly killed when he participated in the 1965 Bloody Sunday march to Selma, Alabama, to demand the right to vote.
REP. JOHN LEWIS: I was disappointed, because I think what the court did today is stab the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in its very heart. It is a major setback. We may not have people being beaten today. Maybe theyre not being denied the right to participate or to register to vote. Theyre not being chased by police dogs or trampled by horses. But in the 11 states of the old Confederacy, and even in some of the states outside of the South, theres been a systematic, deliberate attempt to take us back to another period. And these men that voted to strip the Voting Rights Act of its power, they never stood in unmovable lines. They never had to pass a so-called literacy test. It took us almost a hundred years to get where we are today. So will it take another hundred years to fix it, to change it?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was Congressman Lewis reacting to Tuesdays Supreme Court ruling on the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, quote, "Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions."
Meanwhile, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissent, quote, "The Voting Rights Act became one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nations history." President Barack Obama reacted to the ruling with disappointment and asked Congress to pass legislation, quote, "to ensure every American has equal access to the polls."
In recent years, Democrats have accused Republicans at the state level of enacting measures intended to suppress the vote of minority groups likely to support Democratic candidates. These measures include congressional redistricting and voter identification laws. Just two hours after the ruling, Texas began advancing a voter ID law and redistricting map that were blocked last year for discriminating against African-American and Latino residents.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Chicago, where were joined by Reverend Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, president and founder of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and by Thomas Saenz, president of MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. His organization submitted a brief in the Shelby case and brought the other major voting rights case the Supreme Court decided last week, in which it ruled that an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship from residents as they register to vote is invalid because it violates the National Voter Registration Act. And here in New York, were joined by Ari Berman, who covers voting rights for The Nation magazine, his recent article headlined "What the Supreme Court Doesnt Understand About the Voting Rights Act."
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! Reverend Jesse Jackson, lets begin with you. Your reaction to the Supreme Court decision?
Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act, Sparking Fears of Rollback for Minorities Long After Jim Crow | Democracy Now!
In a major blow for voting rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has invalidated an integral part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, the crowning achievement of the 1960s civil rights movement. In a 5-to-4 decision, justices ruled Congress has used obsolete information in continuing to require nine states with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval for changes to voting rules. In recent years, Democrats have accused Republicans at the state level of enacting measures including congressional redistricting and voter identification laws to suppress the vote of minority groups likely to support Democratic candidates. We get reaction from three guests: Rev. Jesse Jackson, veteran civil rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition; Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Ari Berman, a reporter who covers voting rights for The Nation. "This cuts at the heart of the whole idea of a broad American social fabric," Rev. Jackson says. Berman adds that the challenge came before the high court out of "a determined movement by conservatives to gut the most important civil rights law in the past 50 years."
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: In a major blow for voting rights, the Supreme Court has gutted an integral part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. The act was a crowning achievement of the civil rights movement and helped transform the South. On Tuesday, in a five-to-four decision, the justices ruled that Congress had used obsolete information in continuing to require nine states, mainly in the South, to obtain federal approval for voting rule changes affecting minority voters. The Voting Rights Act was challenged by Shelby County, Alabama, which argued the preclearance requirement has outlived its usefulness.
Congressman John Lewis of Georgia reacted to Tuesdays ruling on MSNBC. He was nearly killed when he participated in the 1965 Bloody Sunday march to Selma, Alabama, to demand the right to vote.
REP. JOHN LEWIS: I was disappointed, because I think what the court did today is stab the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in its very heart. It is a major setback. We may not have people being beaten today. Maybe theyre not being denied the right to participate or to register to vote. Theyre not being chased by police dogs or trampled by horses. But in the 11 states of the old Confederacy, and even in some of the states outside of the South, theres been a systematic, deliberate attempt to take us back to another period. And these men that voted to strip the Voting Rights Act of its power, they never stood in unmovable lines. They never had to pass a so-called literacy test. It took us almost a hundred years to get where we are today. So will it take another hundred years to fix it, to change it?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was Congressman Lewis reacting to Tuesdays Supreme Court ruling on the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, quote, "Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions."
Meanwhile, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissent, quote, "The Voting Rights Act became one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nations history." President Barack Obama reacted to the ruling with disappointment and asked Congress to pass legislation, quote, "to ensure every American has equal access to the polls."
In recent years, Democrats have accused Republicans at the state level of enacting measures intended to suppress the vote of minority groups likely to support Democratic candidates. These measures include congressional redistricting and voter identification laws. Just two hours after the ruling, Texas began advancing a voter ID law and redistricting map that were blocked last year for discriminating against African-American and Latino residents.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Chicago, where were joined by Reverend Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, president and founder of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and by Thomas Saenz, president of MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. His organization submitted a brief in the Shelby case and brought the other major voting rights case the Supreme Court decided last week, in which it ruled that an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship from residents as they register to vote is invalid because it violates the National Voter Registration Act. And here in New York, were joined by Ari Berman, who covers voting rights for The Nation magazine, his recent article headlined "What the Supreme Court Doesnt Understand About the Voting Rights Act."
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! Reverend Jesse Jackson, lets begin with you. Your reaction to the Supreme Court decision?
Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act, Sparking Fears of Rollback for Minorities Long After Jim Crow | Democracy Now!
