Here is a topic that straddles our recent discussion of both Civil Rights and our upcoming one on elections: The DC appellate court upheld the Voting Rights Act, meaning that for the second time in a handful of years the Supreme Court will be hearing challenges to the Voting Rights Act - a piece of legislation that impacts both elections and civil rights policies. The intent of the act was take tactics used by the majorities in certain areas of the country - notably the South - illegal. It also defined ways to determine which jurisdictions were engaging in discriminatory activities and established that any changes to election laws in those districts had to be pre-cleared by a panel of federal judges in order to ensure that they did not further discriminate against minorities.
The Justice Department is using this authority to challenge Texas' voter ID and Texas is fighting back by leading the charge against pre-clearance. Conservatives on the court were skeptical of the requirement in a case from Austin a few years ago, and signalled they may be willing to overturn the requirement.
A ScotusBlog writer outlines the issues in the case. One of the arguments made is that the formula used to determine which districts should be pre-cleared and almost 40 years old and may no longer accurately reflect which districts are engaging in discriminatory behavior.
A related stories:
- Do we still need the Voting Rights Act?
