Let’s talk voter suppression.
There was a huge, watershed law passed in 1965 to protect against historic voter discrimination by (mostly) southern states.
The Voting Rights Act was a crowning achievement of the civil rights era.
(Thread)
There was a huge, watershed law passed in 1965 to protect against historic voter discrimination by (mostly) southern states.
The Voting Rights Act was a crowning achievement of the civil rights era.
(Thread)
The most important piece of the Voting Rights Act was that specific jurisdictions w/ histories of discrimination needed to “preclear” any changes to voting laws. Every time they made a voting change, DOJ would review to see if it was discriminatory & approve or reject the change.
The Voting Rights Act worked. And it was reauthorized repeatedly by Congress with huge, near-unanimous bipartisan majorities.
But in 2013, in the 5-4 Shelby County v. Holder decision, John Roberts and the Republican appointees to the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act by killing preclearance.
(Another reason Supreme Court justices are so important.)
(Another reason Supreme Court justices are so important.)
They said the formula by which the covered jurisdictions were chosen was outdated and unconstitutional: the world had changed & the preclearace requirement was no longer justified by the need to protect against discrimination.
Clearly, they were gravely wrong about that.
Clearly, they were gravely wrong about that.
Immediately after Shelby, many of the jurisdictions formerly subject to DOJ preclearance used their new-found freedom to pass the same bullshit discriminatory voting laws that the VRA so effectively guarded against.
Republicans have long embraced voter suppression as a winning political strategy.
Under the guise of preventing “voter fraud” (which experts say does not meaningfully exist), Republicans push for increasingly restrictive measures like Voter ID laws and aggressive voter roll purges.
The Republicans true motive is clear: suppress the votes of low-income, youth, and minority voters who tend to support Democrats.
After Shelby County, Republicans again have free rein to do just that. And so they have.
After Shelby County, Republicans again have free rein to do just that. And so they have.
Shelby was also an incredibly activist decision (Republicans love to decry judicial activism, so...ironic). A bare, partisan majority of the court struck down a near-unanimously passed act of Congress and disregarded its extensive factual findings about the need for a strong VRA
The voter suppression we are seeing today makes crystal clear that a robust VRA is as important now as ever. Congress can and should restore the Act to full force and effect. And the Roberts Court should reckon with the egregious and shortsighted mistake it made in Shelby County.
WE THE PEOPLE must vigilantly protect our right to the voting franchise - our most fundamental right as Americans.
We must get active to stop suppression at the state level, and VOTE on Nov. 6 to elect Democrats who are working to protect your fundamental right to vote.
🖤
We must get active to stop suppression at the state level, and VOTE on Nov. 6 to elect Democrats who are working to protect your fundamental right to vote.
🖤
