“The Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act Decision Isn’t the Whole Problem”

Armand Derfner:

Forty-five years ago, I found myself nervously standing in front of Chief Justice Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, Hugo Black and the other Justices, arguing the first case to apply the newly minted Voting Rights Act. Despite my greenness, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Mississippi voters I represented, saying the Act must be interpreted broadly, to further Congress’ “noble goal” of ending voting discrimination.

I imagined many possible futures, but none of them led to my sitting in the Supreme Court last week listening to Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion that the Voting Rights Act is no longer necessary — and is hence unconstitutional — because we have eradicated racism in America. Not just that, but we eradicated racism in just the seven short years since the Act’s extension in 2006 by huge bipartisan majorities in Congress.

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