What is being challenged is the arbitrary and antiquated Section 5 pre-clearance system which was supposed to be temporary when it was first passed in 1965. Under this system, the jurisdictions mentioned above must seek permission from the Attorney General himself, or a three-judge federal district court panel, before implementing any voting-related changes. For example, if Shelby County wants to change the location of a polling place because an elementary school is temporarily under construction, they have to get permission from the federal government first.
Never mind that the Section 5-covered state of Mississippi has higher African-American voter turnout than Massachusetts. Or that the Bronx is required to get pre-clearance under Section 5 while neighboring Queens is not. None of this helps protect any minorities right to vote.
What Section 5 does do is encourage the federal government to harass jurisdictions it does not like.During the Clinton Administration the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division was hit with $4.1 million in court sanctions for filing frivolous discrimination claims related to the Voting Rights Act.
Justice Anthony Kennedy may side with the more conservative members of the Supreme Court and vote down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, or he may side with the liberals and uphold it. Either way every minority in America will still have a constitutionally protected right to vote in 2014.
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