LOD: Will the Court Clear Pre-clearance?

The US Supreme Court has now agreed to hear a case from Alabama that challenges Section 5 or the pre-clearance section of the federal Voting Rights Act, the most effective law protecting the rights of people of color and other voters. The challengers say there’s no longer a need for some counties and other jurisdictions to have proposed changes in their election procedures pre-cleared or reviewed for bias by the federal government. They argue the nation that elected Barack Obama is far different from the one in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was first adopted, or even in 2006 when the VRA received bipartisan reauthorization from Congress with the backing of President George W. Bush. Supporters of Section 5 point to its crucial protection against the devious tactics used by opponents of black and multi-racial political empowerment, tactics ranging from moving polling sites to enacting prejudicial ID requirements. Ari Berman of The Nation explains the continuing value of the VRA and concludes that “only a Supreme Court wholly divorced from reality would review the record on voting rights since Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act in 2006 and conclude that a key pillar of the law was no longer needed.” Unfortunately, many observers believe that Chief Justice John Roberts and a few other Supreme Court justices are more committed to ideology than an objective review of the facts or law, which means the Court will take center stage in the ongoing fight to protect voting rights from the self-serving manipulations of politicians, including those in black robes.