Just months after the election of the nation’s first Black president, in which African-American voter registration and voter turnout was at its highest, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether states with a history of racial discrimination at the polls still need federal oversight.
At issue is the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was reauthorized in 2006. It mandates that certain state and local governments must obtain permission from the Justice Department or a federal court before making a decision that affects voting processes. The statute currently applies to nine states – Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – and dozens of counties and municipalities in other states.
In the case Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder, the municipal utility district in Austin, Texas, is arguing that it should not be required to consult the Justice Department to change a polling station or for any other change in voting processes on the grounds that it has never been accused of voter discrimination. In fact, the utility district did not exist until the mid-1980s, long after Jim Crow reigned supreme in the South.
But the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Eric Holder, is arguing that the preclearance statute serves to protect people of color from being disenfranchised at the polls.
The utility district straddles the Williamson and Travis county lines with the majority of the district falling in Williamson. There, minorities constitute 30 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson after a series of violent attacks on civil rights marchers in the South demanding the right to vote. The law quelled such ploys as poll taxes and literacy requirements for voting registration instituted by lawmakers to disenfranchise Black populations.
Section 5 is the linchpin of the legislation, says Raymond Pierce, dean of North Carolina Central University’s College of Law and former U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. He adds that, without the preclearance, the law has little power.
