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A perhaps more significant case than the Arizona citizenship ruling coming up this session is about the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
The argument is that the South is being treated unequally, because although there has been a long history there of suppression (and intimidation) of black voters in many southern states, that was then, not now. The New South is free from racial prejudice, or at least no worse than anywhere else, so singling them out for federal oversight is unfair.
Justice Roberts seems to agree.
Justice Scalia goes even farther claiming that overwhelming bipartisan congressional consensus to reauthorize the act was due to congresspeople being afraid to be perceived as anti civil rights. He called the act "perpetuation of racial entitlement."
http://abcnews.go.com/m/blogEntry?id=19420410&sid=77&cid=77
Section5 is the teeth in the Voting Rights Act, giving the Federal government the ability to block changes in voting instituted by certain states whose purpose is to disenfranchise African American voters, rather than waiting years (and after the elections are over) for the courts to rule on such changes.
It is the centerpiece of civil rights legislation. It was perhaps the most important piece of legislation to come out of the civil rights movement
My belief is that the Roberts court will, indeed, overturn it.
A sad day for Americans. A great day for southern conservatives.
The argument is that the South is being treated unequally, because although there has been a long history there of suppression (and intimidation) of black voters in many southern states, that was then, not now. The New South is free from racial prejudice, or at least no worse than anywhere else, so singling them out for federal oversight is unfair.
Justice Roberts seems to agree.
Justice Scalia goes even farther claiming that overwhelming bipartisan congressional consensus to reauthorize the act was due to congresspeople being afraid to be perceived as anti civil rights. He called the act "perpetuation of racial entitlement."
http://abcnews.go.com/m/blogEntry?id=19420410&sid=77&cid=77
Section5 is the teeth in the Voting Rights Act, giving the Federal government the ability to block changes in voting instituted by certain states whose purpose is to disenfranchise African American voters, rather than waiting years (and after the elections are over) for the courts to rule on such changes.
It is the centerpiece of civil rights legislation. It was perhaps the most important piece of legislation to come out of the civil rights movement
My belief is that the Roberts court will, indeed, overturn it.
A sad day for Americans. A great day for southern conservatives.
