The Supreme Court Correctly Upholds the Voting Rights Act
By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I have criticized, and proclaimed the need for, an end of race-based affirmative action programs. So why am I pleased with the decision announced yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court, preserving the Voting Rights Act?
Well, first I like the caveats. As Chief Justice John Roberts noted in his opinion, the need for the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure fair elections in all or part of 16 states, mostly down South, is fading as the old courthouse gangs die off and are replaced by African-American mayors, sheriffs, and legislators.
"The South has changed," Roberts wrote. "The evil that [the law] is meant to address may no longer be concentrated in the jurisdictions singled out.... The statute's coverage formula is based on data that is now more than 35 years old, and there is considerable evidence that it fails to account for current political conditions."
The decision was a signal to Congress that it must always tread carefully on the issue of discrimination and race. Helping one race, inevitably, means discriminating against others. And the goal of our society, and our Constitution, is to someday be fairly, justly colorblind.
But, unlike diversity quotas for municipal employment or admission to elite graduate schools, voting is an elemental right: the way people or communities translate their wishes and beliefs into political representation. And anyone who has traveled through the rural South, even in the 21st century, knows that there are still large segregated communities where white officials sound and act more enlightened, but may need the federal watchdog for additional time.
And, ultimately, I believe that the justices acted properly in deferring to Congress on this matter. The need for federal protection in this area is better weighed by elected officials from across the country, based on evidence presented in public hearings and debate in committee and on the House and Senate floor, than by activist conservative justices.
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Tags: Supreme Court | voting
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John Warren
voting rights act
Acorn & Black Panthers terrorised hordes of white voters?
If that were true wouldn't {Faux News} have blasted it across the internet & tv for days in its typical holier & more patriotic,than thou red,white, & blue sanctimonious,network of conservative malcontents style.I guess that Chicago which maintained white only neighborhood covenants on housing well into the 80's was proper and legal. You conservatives harbor such a blatant disregard that Barack Hussein Obama is the President,it borders beyond sanity the disrespect you people spew forth continously like a geyser of bitter venom of ignorance.If a man like him were a driver or cook in the whitehouse that would be okay in your warped minds that long for the times of John Wayne, Ronnie Reagan,& Joe McCarthy.
Be it fair
All law abiding citizens should have the right to vote and have that right protected.
But by the same set of rules, those who chose the wrong side of the law or those who are not citizens should be stopped from voting.
In the past I have voted and had to show my voters registration card and a legal identification, whether it be a SS card, drivers licsene, or other document.
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