By State Representative Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down two landmark decisions last week, which can only be described as a “mixed bag” by those on the Left of the political spectrum.
However, its legal ruling that declared Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional has really stuck in my craw.
On a 5-to-4 vote last Tuesday, the Supreme Court effectively struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Thus, nine states, mostly in the South, are now free to change their election laws without advance federal approval.
The court was divided along ideological lines, and both sides drew sharply different lessons from the history of the Civil Rights movement and the nation’s progress in rooting out racial discrimination in voting.
At the core of the disagreement was whether racial minorities continued to face barriers to voting in states with history of discrimination.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asserted that “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.” Moreover, critics of the law are quick to cite the election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, as evidence that it was no longer needed.
On the other hand, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg summarized her dissent from the bench by insisting that the focus of the Voting Right Act had properly changed from “first-generation barriers to ballot access” to “second- generation” barriers like gerrymandering and laws requiring at-large voting in places with sizeable Black majority.
The law had applied to nine states – Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – and to scores of counties and municipalities in other states, including Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx.
If last year’s presidential election cycle taught us anything, the Voting Rights Act needs to be strengthened and expanded to include other parts of the nation. Voter ID laws, voter suppression and voter intimidation are just the latest strategies to deny certain individuals their right to vote.
This is clearly unconstitutional and must cease.