Amy Goodman
@DemocracyNow·3.2M subscribers·19.4K videos
The "Citizens United" for Voting Rights? Civil Rights Era Victory Threatened by Supreme Court Review
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February 28, 2013
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1:33Now PlayingWatch the entire interview with The Nation's Ari Berman on Democracy Now! at The U.S. Supreme Court is considering overturning the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a key achievement of the civil rights movement. Signed in 1965 by President L. Johnson, the law requires several states and counties with a history of racial discrimination to clear electionrelated changes with the federal government. The Nation's Ari Berman tells Democracy Now! that overturning Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act "would open the floodgates to more voter suppression laws, more legal challenges, and would make it difficult to enforce the voting rights laws that are on the books. ... It would be one of the most radical and consequential decisions made by the court in a very long time."
ARI BERMAN: "Well, it's been such a transformative law. It's often been described as the most consequential law passed in the 20th century and really the high watermark of the civil rights movement. And Section 5 is the heart and soul of the Voting Rights Act. So, if the Supreme Court was to get rid of Section 5 or to significantly narrow it, and we will know this in June when a decision comes down, there really is no substitute for it, and it would be a very devastating setback for voting rights, not just in the places where Section 5 is covered, but there's a thinking that if Section 5 goes, conservatives are going to start challenging those other provisions of the Voting Rights Act, like Section 2, which applies nationwide. The court has already limited Section 2 in many respects. So, this would kind of be like the Citizens United decision for voting rights. It would open the floodgates to more voter suppression laws, more legal challenges, and it would make it difficult to enforce the voting rights laws that are on the books in addition to Section 5. And so, there really is no substitute, and it would be one of the most radical and consequential decisions made by the court in a very long time."
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