Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issuedthe following statement on today's decision by the United States Supreme Court tohear a challenge to a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At issue is a provision called “preclearance.”Under this provision, places covered by the Act are barred from making changesin voting laws until the U.S. Department of Justicedetermines that the changes do not have either the purpose or effect ofdiscriminating against people of color.
Today’sdecision by the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to a key provision of theVoting Rights Act of 1965 means the court will be focusing on the keystone inthe arch of protection for people of color in America - the law that guaranteesthe right to vote.
The case will be argued before a ChiefJustice, John Roberts, who has shown profound hostility to the Voting RightsAct during his legal career. While serving in the Reagan Administration,Roberts was a driving force behind Administration efforts to significantlyweaken the Act. His push to weaken the law went beyond internal memos andother writings. He actively encouraged the Administration to publicly embraceand widely endorse his call for a weaker law – drafting numerous talking points,question-and-answer documents and op ed columns.
Opponentsof the Voting Rights Act say it has outlived its usefulness. After nearly 50years, they argue, all of the wrongs have been righted. But any claim that the wrongs that ledto this Act are things of thepast should have been dispelledby the concerted efforts during the campaign that just ended to deny poorpeople and people of color their right to vote through voter ID laws and othermeans of voter suppression.
Onelection night, according to a Hart Research Associates poll conducted for theAFL-CIO, there was racial inequality at the polling station. Theproportion of African American and Hispanic voters who had to wait on longlines before they could vote was more than double the proportion of whitevoters.
Whenhe signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson declared that“This act flows from a clear and simple wrong. . . . Millions of Americans aredenied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them theright to vote. The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, canjustify. The right is one which no American, true to our principles, candeny.”
Soon, the Supreme Court willdecide if America will remain true to its principles.
And see the previous post to this blog for more on the need for strong voting rights protections.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder