Supreme Court Strikes Down Parts of The Voting Rights Act

Thanks to the Conservative controlled Supreme Court, some southern states can now legally take away the voting rights of some of their residents.

The Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, the provision of the landmark civil rights law that designates which parts of the country must have changes to their voting laws cleared by the federal government or in federal court.

The 5-4 ruling, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, found that “things have changed dramatically” in the south nearly 50 years after the Voting Rights Act was signed.

“There is no doubt that these improvements are in large part because of the Voting Rights Act,” the court ruled. “The Act has proved immensely successful at redressing racial discrimination and integrating the voting process.”

“Section 4 and 5 were intended to be temporary, they were set to expire after five years,” the justices added.

Consider this two steps forward, three steps back.