Court Cripples Voting Rights Act

Greenlining Institute: Congress Must Act to Protect Democracy

Members of the NAACP hold signs in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington on June 25, 2013 (AFP, Nicholas Kamm)

(BERKELEY, CA) - The Supreme Court effectively gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act today, throwing out the map that determines which states or localities must get federal permission before they change their voting laws. Greenlining Institute Claiming Our Democracy Director Michelle Romero made the following statement:

“Within many of our lifetimes, brave men and women literally died for the right to vote, in the face of terror and intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan and others. Astonishingly, the court today effectively sided with the KKK, making it far easier to deny the vote to people of color, the poor, and anyone else who officials don’t want voting.

“Make no mistake: Though the court technically didn’t throw out the pre-approval provision, its decision today has the same effect unless Congress acts. This is a deeply shameful decision, every bit as shameful as the Dred Scott case or Plessy v. Ferguson.

“People of color live with the reality of discrimination and unequal treatment every day. From racial profiling to concerted attacks on the right to vote last year in state after state, we know that attacks on the rights of people of color haven’t gone away. Attacks on the right to vote may be more indirect and subtle than they used to be, but the provisions of the Voting Rights Act that the Court gutted today remain absolutely vital.

“Within the limits the Court has laid out today, Congress must move energetically to protect the right to vote for all citizens.”