Should Voting Rights Act Have Been Dismantled?

By Katherine Hafner

The Supreme Court this week overturned a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, dividing the country ideologically and stirring discussion about its progress in voter turnout.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed to outlaw discriminatory practices that historically prevented black citizens from voting.

“No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color,” the document reads.

It was intended to enforce the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government from denying any citizen the right to vote based on race.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to eliminate a portion of the Act – the portion that required certain states and areas within the country to gain federal approval before changing their election laws.

“The conditions that originally justified these measures no longer characterize voting in the covered jurisdictions,“ said Chief Justice John Roberts in the opinion of the court. “The formula in that section can no longer be used as a basis for subjecting jurisdictions to preclearance.”

Nine states in the South – Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – were primarily affected by the stipulations, but can now change election laws without federal oversight.

Some states have already announced changes they plan to make. 

Texas Attorney General Eric Abbott said following the ruling that multiple of the state’s controversial voting laws that were previously struck down by the government, like one that requires voters to present identification at voting booths, and another to redistrict maps, will now immediately take effect.  

The decision divided the Court itself. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a strongly worded dissenting opinion to the court, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.

“‘Voting discrimination still exists; no one doubts that.’ But the Court today terminates the remedy that proved to be best suited to block that discrimination,” Ginsburg wrote in the dissenting opinion.

Division among citizens and political officials alike has followed suit.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Court’s decision.

The Court's decision mainly affects the nine Southern states and a few regions across the country, including Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York.

For now, the rest of the Act remains intact.

Tell us, in the comments section below:

• What do you think of the Court’s decision to remove a part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
• Do you think our country has progressed enough to remove federal oversight in terms of election laws?