The 1965 Voting Rights Act paved the way for black voters in states where they'd been denied the franchise, despite the Bill of Rights and the Civil War. In 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled that enforcement wasn't needed any more. Now, Alabama's accused of trying again to keep blacks away from the polls, while the Supreme Court's being asked to rule that Latinos get an unfair advantage. We hear more about voter ID's, the drawing of district boundaries and the Constitution.
The Voting Rights Act 50 Years Later: Race and the Ballot Box
More
- Shelby County v. Holder
- Evenwel v. Abbott
- Archibald on Alabama's closing of driver license bureaus in majority black neighborhoods
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund on closure of office impacting access to voter ID
- Berman on Alabama again gutting voting rights
- Cato Institute's amicus brief in Evenwel v. Abbott
Credits
Guests:
- John Archibald - Alabama Media Group - @JohnArchibald
- Deuel Ross - NAACP Legal Defense Fund - @RossDeuel
- Ari Berman - senior reporter for Mother Jones, author of “Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America” - @AriBerman
- Ilya Shapiro - Cato Institute - @ishapiro