#voting-rights-act

#voting-rights-act

Last week, my heart sank as I listened to the Supreme Court's oral arguments over yet another attempt to gut what's left of the Voting Rights Act. It was a law designed to protect the electoral power of Black Americans against the forces of white supremacy masquerading as states' rights. As the conservative justices twisted themselves into rhetorical knots to justify dismantling this cornerstone of democracy, I couldn't help but think that the late civil rights icon and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall warned us this day would come by unintentionally prophesizing, "Liberty cannot bloom amid hate."

In the two decades John Roberts has served as chief justice, the Supreme Court he presides over has repeatedly decimated the Voting Rights Act, striking a series of savage blows to the law long hailed as the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement. This term, in Louisiana v. Callais, the Voting Rights Act is in the crosshairs once again, as the court's conservative supermajority might strike down the act's last standing pillar.

Simpson Thacher worked with the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of Black civic leaders in a case challenging district maps in Mississippi Supreme Court elections, the article reports. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock of the Northern District of Mississippi ruled Aug. 19 that the map diluted the votes of Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Rights Act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, aiming to protect the right to vote and combat voter suppression efforts, especially against Black voters.

The Supreme Court is poised to invalidate the remaining provisions of the Voting Rights Act, which could significantly impact voting protections across the country.