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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a hugely successful law in the fight to ensure that every American can vote, especially in communities of color. But a 2013 Supreme Court ruling hollowed out the landmark civil rights measure by effectively ending a provision of the law known as “preclearance.”
Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, sixteen states are required to submit any redistricting plans to the U.S. Department of Justice for preclearance. Preclearance is defined as the process of seeking U.S. Department of Justice approval for all changes related to voting.
A core special provision is the Section 5 preclearance requirement, which prohibited certain jurisdictions from implementing any change affecting voting without first receiving confirmation from the U.S. attorney general or the U.S. District Court for D.C. that the change does not discriminate against protected minorities. [12] .
On June 25, 2013, the United States Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional to use the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act to determine which jurisdictions are subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013). The Supreme Court did not rule ...
On June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court disarmed the most effective provision in the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 that protected against suppressive and discriminatory voting legislation: preclearance.
Section 5 of the law requires jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to obtain approval from the Department of Justice or a court before changing voting rules, a process known as “preclearance.”
Section 5, also known as preclearance, required states and jurisdictions with a proven historical record of discriminatory voting practices to obtain certification before making changes to election procedures that the proposed changes were not discriminatory.
a voting law would be considered to have a discriminatory effect if it would have led to retrogression— that is, members of a racial or language minority group would have been “worse off than they had been before the change.” A jurisdiction would remain subject to the preclearance requirement until it instituted
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. § 10301, prohibits discrimination in voting on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. This permanent, nationwide prohibition applies to any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure,
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 The VRA is split into several sections that create a cause of action and specific enforcement measures meant to eliminate voting discrimination.