Late last month, the US Supreme Court significantly weakened one of America’s most hallowed pieces of law: the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Justices ruled 6-3 that Louisiana should not be allowed to create a new, majority black voting district, since doing so would be discriminatory. The ruling reflected a fundamental political divide over how much progress has been made in combating racial discrimination, and what, if anything, still needs to be done to prevent it.
President Lyndon Johnson signed the act into law five months after the “Bloody Sunday” attacks on civil rights activists in Selma, Alabama. It was designed to prevent racial discrimination in voting, protecting the 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution, which preserve equal rights. It prevented things such as literacy tests for voters, or allowing federal officials to monitor state and local elections. Amended five times, it was eventually used to redistrict certain areas of the country to include more black voters.
The act was an acknowledgment of the fact that in many parts of America, particularly the Deep South, state and local statutes — the “Jim Crow” laws — purposely enforced segregation and disenfranchisement of Black Americans. It was also a tacit acknowledgment that voting often broke down along racial lines. Districts without a critical mass of Black voters were unlikely to get any Black candidates.