The U. S. Supreme Court’s June 25, 2013 decision voiding Section 4 of the U.S. Voting rights act is shamefully partisan and ignores the recent almost unanimous 2006 ratification of the voting act by the Congress which extended Section 5 of the Voting Act for another 25 years. The Congress found that the electoral systems in almost all of the covered jurisdictions are still suffering from the actual effects of the a Jim Crow system that was a remnant of slavery for 100 years after U.S. the Civil War. This non-democratic decision also comes from a court which allowed unrestricted campaign contributions from foreign and domestic corporations last year through it’s Citizens United decision, which also ignored 100 years of judicial case precident aimed at preventing fraud and corruption in elections. While it is true that much progress has been made since 1964 when the Voting Rights Act was enacted, it is also true that last year the Republicans in particular sought to restrict voting in many states. And only the Voting Rights Act enforcement actions by the Justice Department prevented many abuses in the last national election in 2012. It is clear that the Roberts Court is an “activist” court that ignores decades of president, when it suits the Republican agenda. Indeed, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott immediately issued a lengthy statement vowing to proceed with both a voter ID law and potentially a new set of redistricting maps without federal oversight. My father’s family has been in Texas since being carried there as slaves in 1840, and my mother is from Selma, Alabama, so I know well the violent discriminatory history there and many other Southern states. I agree with the many articles posted Wednesday illustrating some of the history of the creation of the Voting Rights Act and the continuing need for it in this day and age. I support the call for Congressional Action to restore these necessary protections for a healthy democracy in which all eligible U. S. Citizens can vote without undue clearly politically motivated obstructions. The Freedom to Vote was clearly impaired by the U.S. Supreme Court’s action on June 25, 2013. Atty. Andre’ Wooten
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 21:06:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015