ACSBlog

by Ryan P. Haygood, Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group, and part of LDF’s litigation team in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder. LDF Special Counsel Debo P. Adegbile will present oral argument on behalf of defendant-intervenors in this case, including LDF’s clients, five Black ministers and Councilman Ernest Montgomery. In 2006, the City of Calera, which lies within Shelby County, enacted a discriminatory redistricting plan that was rejected by the Department of Justice under Section 5, leading to the loss of the city’s sole Black councilman, Mr. Montgomery.  Because of Section 5, however, the Department of Justice required Calera to redraw its electoral boundaries in a nondiscriminatory manner and conduct another election in which Mr. Montgomery regained his seat. This post is part of an ACSblog symposium on Shelby County v. Holder.

The United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument tomorrow in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, one of the most important voting rights cases of our generation. 

In the case, Shelby County seeks to tear out the heart of the Voting Rights Act, Section 5. The Voting Rights Act is widely regarded as the most successful piece of civil rights legislation -- if not any legislation -- ever passed. It is for this reason that the Supreme Court, through an unbroken line of cases, has four times over four decades upheld the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.

At oral argument, the Court will focus on two key questions: (1) whether voting discrimination persists to a degree that Section 5 is still needed; and, (2) whether that discrimination remains concentrated in the places covered by Section 5.

The answer to both queries is yes for two reasons.

First, in reauthorizing Section 5 in 2006, Congress identified the areas of the country with the worst histories of voting discrimination -- those places where persistent and adaptive discrimination has continued from the past through to the present and, which has proven particularly difficult to dislodge over time through case-by-case litigation. 

During the 2006 reauthorization review, Congress assembled a virtually unprecedented legislative record that closely examined the evidence to determine whether Section 5 is still needed. This analysis was careful, detailed, and included a wide range of views.  Congress received more testimony and information about the voting experience, both in and outside the places covered by Section 5, than it had during any of the previous reauthorizations. Over 10 months in 2005-2006, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees held a combined 21 hearings, received testimony from more than 90 witnesses—including state and federal officials, litigators, scholars, and private citizens—both for and against reauthorization, and compiled a 15,000 page record.  Representative James Sensenbrenner, then-Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, described the record as “one of the most extensive considerations of any piece of legislation that the United States Congress has dealt with in the 27 ½ years” that he had served in Congress.

by Edward A. Hailes, Jr. is Managing Director and General Counsel for Advancement Project. He formerly served as the General Counsel for the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights where he directed its investigation into voting irregularities in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. This post is part of an ACSblog symposium on Shelby County v. Holder.

In 2006, the United States Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act of 1965 putting certain jurisdictions under the microscope once again to determine whether those jurisdictions were fully cured from the infection of past and present discriminatory voting practices. These ugly practices prevented and continue to prevent ordinary citizens of color from having equal access in our democracy. Congress conducted similar examinations in 1970, 1975, and 1982, each time determining, on a bipartisan basis that protecting the rights of voters in these jurisdictions required ongoing scrutiny and action.

The 2006 examination was particularly extensive and illuminating. The record of review entailed 15,000 pages and testimony from more than 50 witnesses who examined the body of evidence from both sides of the issue. Based on this thorough, objective review, Congress concluded that, despite progress toward achieving political equality for minority voters in the covered jurisdictions, “40 years has not been a sufficient amount of time to eliminate the vestiges of discrimination following nearly 100 years of disregard for the dictates of the 15th Amendment and to ensure that the right of all citizens to vote is protected as guaranteed by the Constitution.”  Congress also found that without continuation of Section 5 [which is the very heart of the Voting Rights Act] voters of color “will be deprived of the opportunity to exercise their right to vote, or will have their votes diluted, undermining the significant gains made by minorities in the last 40 years.”