voting rights act
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SCOTUS Blocks Census Citizenship Question, but Rules Political Gerrymandering Constitutional
On the last day of its term, the nation’s highest court churned out two major rulings: One concerning the U.S. Census, the other, the future of gerrymandering. Let’s start with gerrymandering—that is, when a political party shapes the boundaries of an electorate so it favors them—which the Supremes already ruled could not be done on…
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Tease Me, Stacey: Abrams Says She'll 'Jump In' Presidential Race If Fighting Voter Suppression Isn't a Top Priority
Yes, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams says she is still mulling over a run for the White House in 2020—and that the decision will rest on an issue dear to her: voter suppression. In an interview on the podcast Pod Save America Thursday, Abrams confirmed that a presidential run is still on the table.…
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Sign of the Times: Rep. John Lewis Admits He's Less Hopeful in 2019 Than He Was on Bloody Sunday
If there’s anyone who can serve as a barometer on how messed up things have gotten in this country, it would be U.S. House Rep. John Lewis. And according to the Civil Rights trailblazer known for getting into good trouble, the U.S. is now in “deep trouble.” In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Lewis…
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Republicans Oppose Proposed Law That Would Fight White Supremacy, Restore Democracy and Empower Black Voters
Democrats have proposed H.R. 1, a bill that would make our democracy more equitable, improved access for vulnerable groups to have a real say in how we are governed, and roll back voting restrictions that have disproportionately harmed people of color. That’s why it is the first bill of the new Democratic House majority—and likely…
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Millions of Black Voters Are Being Purged From Voter Rolls, Often Illegally: Report
As the end of Barack Obama’s presidency grew closer, election officials began preparing for the next election. Instead of strengthening the security of voting machines and making voting more accessible to citizens, states did the exact opposite. But they didn’t just make it harder to vote. For hundreds of thousands of registered, eligible voters across…
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Supreme Court Punts on Partisan Gerrymandering as Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas Set Sights on Dismantling Voting Rights Act
On Monday, the Supreme Court made two notable decisions related to voting and voting rights that promise major ramifications for the 2018 midterms and beyond. SCOTUS booted a case on North Carolina’s politically gerrymandered districts back to a lower court Monday morning, asking the court to reconsider its previous decision, which found that the state’s…
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It’s Time to Revive the Heart of the Voting Rights Act
Fifty-three years ago today, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi, where they had gathered to register black voters as part of Freedom Summer. Their murders, and the brutal treatment of voting rights marchers in Selma, Ala., less than a year later, galvanized support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965—one…
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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal to Reinstate NC’s Strict Voter-ID Law
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it had zero time for North Carolina and its shenanigans, rejecting an appeal to reinstate its stupid voter-identification laws, which a lower court had ruled targeted African Americans “with almost surgical precision.” The justices instead let stand the lower court’s ruling, which struck down the photo-ID requirement and…
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Once Again, Judge Rules Texas Voter-ID Law Intentionally Discriminates Against Minorities
A federal judge ruled for the second time Monday that Texas’ stringent voter-ID laws were crafted with the intention of discriminating against minorities, a ruling that follows on the heels of another court finding evidence of racial gerrymandering in how Republican lawmakers drew the state’s election maps. As the Associated Press notes, U.S. District Judge…
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Jeff Sessions Is the New Jim Crow
Perhaps the worst thing about America’s mistreatment of black people in this country has nothing to do with the violence inflicted against us or the centuries of historic subjugation we’ve endured. It is the constant disregard for our voices that frustrates us most. Black America is the neighbor in the horror movie who warns the…