Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act - 1699 Words

In 1965, at a time of racial discrimination in America and the emergence of a strong Civil Rights Movement, congress enacted the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which prohibits discrimination in voting. Congress could not end racial discrimination in voting by suing one jurisdiction, state, etc. at a time. Rather, Congress passed Section 5 of the VRA, which required states and local governments with a history of racially discriminating voting practices to get the approval of the U.S. Attorney General or a three-judge panel for the U.S. District Court for D.C. (â€Å"preclearace†) in order to make any changes to their voting practices. Section 4(b) said that the preclearance requirement applied to states and political subdivisions that used a â€Å"test or†¦show more content†¦The defendant argued that Congress found substantial evidence of racial discrimination in voting in the jurisdictions that are covered and that even if voting dilution does not violate the 15th Amendme nt, it does violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and therefore Congress can protect against vote dilution. Next, the plaintiff argued that the ruling in the D.C. Circuit, which would allow Congress to determine for itself the constitutional significance of the evidence, threatened to remove the limitation that Congress may enforce but not interpret the 14th and 15th Amendments and that the D.C. Circuit used to absence of discrimination to prove that the preclearance requirement is effective and still necessary. On this issue, the defendant argued that Congress correctly determined that Section 5 continues to ward off discrimination in voting that would violate the Constitution. Third, the plaintiff argued that even if preclearance is justified, the coverage formula is not rational since it is based on decades old data and also because the factors that are considered are â€Å"first generation† ballot access issues, while the Voting Rights Act is meant to defeat â€Å"second-generation problems† such as vote dilution. The defendant argued that Congress determined which jurisdictions should be covered and then engineered a formula that would cover those specific jurisdictions, so the formula is still relevant because it specifies the areas which CongressShow MoreRelatedThe Voting Rights Act Of 19651575 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Voting Rights Act initially enacted in 1965. There are two sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that are of particular concern in most cases, sections 4 and 5. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires certain states, districts, and localities to obtain federal preclearance before making any changes or alterations to their election laws or practices (Overby). Section 4 specifies a formula for determining whether a geographical area is subject to section 5 (Overby). When the Voting RightsRead MoreReviewing The Constitutionality Of The Voting Rights Act1283 Words   |  6 Pages Summarizing and Ana lyzing Justice In 2013 a court case â€Å"Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder† that challenged the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision ruled that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was an act that †¦..was unconstitutional because it was based off of old data and no longer applied to those certain nine states which were Alabama, Texas, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia. (Excerpt fromRead MoreEssay on Relevancy of the Voting Rights Act in Modern Times1730 Words   |  7 PagesEdmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, President Lynden Johnson decided it was time to create some legislation to prevent incidences such as this from happening in the future. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 have been hailed as some of â€Å"the most far-reaching bills on civil rights in modern times† (Schmidt et. al. 2010, 98). At that time in history, they were exactly what t he country needed to stop itself from the discriminatory practices that were so wide spread. BothRead MoreTexas s Voter Id Law1633 Words   |  7 Pagesdiscriminatory intent if they were to rule against the State. Looking at precedent from Hunt v. Cromartie, for the evidence to be sufficient, it must show that discrimination played a predominant role in the making of the law and that it focuses upon voting behavior. Texas’ voter ID law is one of the strictest in the nation. Discriminatory evidence the majority opinion might see is in the list of acceptable forms of identification. There are seven acceptable forms of identification, which includesRead MoreThe Voting Rights Act Of 19651549 Words   |  7 Pagesenactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 sought to empower the minority groups to participate in the electoral processes, and to eliminate the barriers that existed in the political landscape. Some of the achievements of the act included the elimination of legislations that promoted profiling of prospective voters. For example, the law eliminated the need for literacy test before one could be registered as a voter, especially in the southern states. Decades later, the US Supreme Court made a 5-4 rulingRead MoreThe Civil Rights Movement During The 20th Century1422 Words   |  6 PagesAfrican- Americans fought for the right to vote and went into great strengths to receive the equ al power as a white American. The Civil Rights Movement was the starting point for many African-Americans to gain there full rights in the United States. The Civil Rights movement was the challenge to segregation that caused laws that separated blacks and whites. With this movement not only was the goal achieved to end racial segregation in the United States, but the Voting Rights of 1965 was modified to helpRead MoreThe Voting Rights Act1549 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Supreme Court made its final decision on the Shelby County, Alabama v Holder, deeming Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, passed by Congress in 1965 and extended several times, unconstitutional. Section 5, although not being struck down, became insignificant without its triggering formula, Section 4, to determine the coverage. This Supreme Court decision took away the key parts of the Voting Rights Act, which was an important method for the federal government to oversee and enforce the enfranchisementRead MoreThe Votin g Rights Act Of 1965862 Words   |  4 Pagesdecided to gut the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Shelby County v. Holder by deciding Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. The Voting Rights Act was meant to prevent historically discriminatory states from passing discriminatory voting laws. The purpose was to end racial discrimination in voting. Section 4(b) lays out the formula for which these states are selected. Basically, if the state had a history of restricting votes through tests or other means, their voting laws would be subjectRead MoreThe Implementation Of Senate Bill 14916 Words   |  4 PagesYour question concerns the implementation of Senate Bill 14, which added new voter identification requirements for in-person voting statewide. Prior to June 26, 2013; Texas and a number of other states and political subdivisions could not alter their voting requirements without preclearance from either the U.S. Attorney General or a three-judge panel sitting for th e U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia. Following the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder, states beholdenRead MoreHow Does One s Disability Affect Their Political Participation Within Society? Essay1695 Words   |  7 PagesSeveral years after Congress took steps to guarantee equal access for the disabled at the voting polls, studies showed that in the United States â€Å"during the 2012 election cycle, 1 in 5 voters with disabilities said they were kept from casting their ballot on their own and more than half said they encountered hurdles† (Heasley). Disabilities can be defined as an impairment that may be physical, cognitive, intellectual, mental, sensory, developmental, or a combination of impairments that causes restrictions