Sec 4 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. 5-4. Per CJ Roberts.
— @SCOTUSblog
The Supreme Court has struck down part of the Voting Rights Act. According to analysis from NBC's Pete Williams, the court upheld the Section 5 notion of preclearance—requiring locales with history of racial discrimination to preclear any changes of their voting laws with the Department of Justice—but struck down the map identifying which areas must be subject to preclearance. According to Williams, this means Congress could, in theory, pass a law creating a new map of locales subject to preclearance. Assuming the Court approved the map, it would go into effect. On a practical level, however, it essentially means the end of preclearance because there's virtually no chance of Congress agreeing on a new map. Therefore, given the current Congress, the effect of the ruling is to render Section 5 moot, although in theory at some point in the future it's conceivable that a new map could be drawn that would revive Section 5.
7:26 AM PT: Here's the ruling.
7:39 AM PT:
Preclearance stopped a TX county from moving a polling place from a school to a historically segregated private club
http://t.co/...
— @froomkin
"What the Supreme Court did was to put a dagger in the heart of the Voting Rights Act," John Lewis tells me.
— @jeffzeleny
9:09 AM PT (Joan McCarter): President Obama issues this statement:
I am deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision today. For nearly 50 years, the Voting Rights Act – enacted and repeatedly renewed by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress – has helped secure the right to vote for millions of Americans. Today’s decision invalidating one of its core provisions upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent.
As a nation, we’ve made a great deal of progress towards guaranteeing every American the right to vote. But, as the Supreme Court recognized, voting discrimination still exists. And while today’s decision is a setback, it doesn’t represent the end of our efforts to end voting discrimination. I am calling on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls. My Administration will continue to do everything in its power to ensure a fair and equal voting process.
It’s a little known fact that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to vote for everyone, but we are fighting to change this. Please sign the petition to join Daily Kos, Color of Change, and a growing movement to pass a constitutional amendment guaranteeing and protecting the freedom to vote for all.
