Tomorrow marks two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) in Shelby County v. Holder. (This has the effect of suspending Section 5 pre-clearance review by the Department of Justice.).
Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion in Shelby County v. Holder opened the floodgates to new GOP voter suppression efforts in those covered jurisdictions within hours of the decision. After Ruling, States Rush to Enact Voting Laws.
Research from earlier this year demonstrates just how full-o’-crap Justice Roberts’ opinion was, as the New York Times editorialized in Voting Rights, by the Numbers.
At the 50th anniversary of of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama in March of this year, President Obama called upon members of Congress to restore the VRA. Obama at Selma: ‘Pledge to make it their mission to restore the Voting Rights Act this year’.
Tomorrow, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) — an icon of the Civil Rights Movement who was nearly beaten to death in Selma on “Bloody Sunday” — will introduce the bill to restore the VRA. (The U.S. Supreme Court could announce its opinion in Arizona Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistriciting Commission tomorrow as well).