When Justice Chief John Roberts destroyed Section 4 of the Rights of Rights (VRA) in the 2013 Supreme Court case Shelby County by HolderHe justified his action with a simple claim: “Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically.” Racial voting discrimination, according to Roberts, were simply no longer a major problem. Section 4 and Effectively Section 5 – aimed at protecting black voters – is supposed to be necessary.
More than a decade later, it is obvious that not only Roberts was in his mind, but also that his ignorance of racial progress from 1965 has actively allowed the country’s current slip into Jim Crow.
One does not have to look more than President Donald Trump’s crusade, with equality and integration (dei). Through the Gallery of Rogue’s incompetent, Trump systematically disassembles Dei initiatives throughout the federal government, further enhancing power in the hands of white. In some cases, they are Removing this power from people with obviously specialized people who do not match the new way “white-to the right” of the governance and delivering it to a backdrop of right-wing television host, podcasters and all-around cranks-we should not mention the billionaire of South Africa Who doesn’t even go hereBut who seems to believe that he is responsible for the whole federal government.
There is definitely a lot of responsibility to pass on our descent to authoritarianism, but do you know who doesn’t get enough shit about it? John Roberts. Because contrary to his claim LbiThings have not changed dramatically. We are in the middle of a mass review of society as we have not seen since then Woodrow Wilson Resegectagent the federal workforce in 1913. And if John Roberts abandoned the law on voting rights on his own, we may not find ourselves in this reciprocating reaction, where voters’ suppression, racial ridicule and relentless attacks on political rights serve them as a way of control of them.
The 1965 voting law law was the only legislation that eventually forced the United States to stop pretending that blacks had the right to vote, while systematically preventing them from every turn. Certainly, the 15th amendment had banned the right to vote by race, color or prior status of slavery (in other words, slavery) and white women’s favorite legislation, the 19th amendment eventually gave (white) women the right to vote. But the law on voting rights (VRA) passed almost half a century after the 19th amendment, which eventually saw the purpose of the 15th and 19th amendment he realized. Before VRA, black people were blocked by racist voter -based racist tactics, such as alphabetic tests, poll taxes and intimidation in polls, especially in the south. With the passage of VRA, the federal government had set foot, banning these ruthless racist tactics and forcing the states to truly follow the Constitution. Vra also put the most racist offenders on a federal tracking list through sections 4 and 5.
Article 5 of the law on voting rights was charged by the Ministry of Justice with the duty of states of children and other jurisdictions with a history of racist laws for vote. Section 4 provided the so -called coverage formula to determine whether or not a jurisdiction had such an aggressive story of racial discrimination that it should first be forced to obtain federal approval before making any changes to its electoral rules. This was a process called Preclerance and it was necessary to prevent these jurisdictions to be obtained in new constraints of voters under the radar in an attempt to keep black people out of the vote. And guess what? He worked – at least for a while. The registration and turnout of black voters the Nation referencedWe had fewer than 500 black elected officials in 1965 and by 2013 that number had a ball in over 10,500 – including the country’s first black president.
Roberts probably thought it was reasonable to move on to Vra early in Barack Obama’s second term. Obama was black and He was president. Who could argue that there was so much racism that VRA was still necessary? But when the law was excavated, this was not Roberts’ first bite on Apple. Vra learning has become a conservative project almost as soon as it passes. And until 1981-and 20 years after his passage-a 26-year-old Roberts had already been bored with it. At that time, the cause of De Celebre made sure that Congress’s efforts to promote section 2 of VRA, which allowed the plaintiffs to submit lawsuits that cause controversial laws for racist votes. In 1980, the Supreme Court had already weakened section 2 in a case called Mobile v. BoldenAnd Roberts, then an employee of the Supreme Court, wanted to make sure he stayed.
Roberts believed, as the court Mobile The plaintiffs for voting rights had to prove that the laws that dilute the votes of black people came from racial motives. It was not enough to establish racial discrimination by noting the disproportionate effects of a particular law or practical vote. In a 1981 note to the Attorney General William French Smith, Roberts wrote this ‘Incorporation of a test test effect into [Section 2] It would essentially establish a system of perpetrators for electoral policy, creating a right to analog racial representation in elected government bodies. “(And we know how conservatives they hate quotas.)
Roberts lost this battle, but eventually won the war. By banning any law on voting that “leads to a refusal or collapse of the right of any US citizen to vote because of race or color”, Congress modified VRA to undo what Mobile v. Bolden had established. The results were important. The impact that introduces discrimination is important. The plaintiffs should no longer establish some racially discreet intention by legislators. Nevertheless, Roberts insisted.
In 2005, the former young man, the upstart lawyer, was elevated to the Chief of the Supreme Court. And by 2013, with the majority of Shelby County by HolderRoberts was finally able to pinch the crusade of the decades against Vra. In LbiRoberts acknowledged that the distinction in voting still exists, but he fell into the idea that states with a history of racist voting should be forced to obtain federal approval before they were allowed to change the laws of voting.
“Apart from the strict clauses of superiority,” he wrote, “states maintain broad autonomy in the structure of their governments and the pursuit of legislative goals.”
Roberts had decided that racial vote discrimination was de minimus and could no longer support the invasion of state rights. The conservative attempt to overthrow VRA had finally succeeded and the spread of political rights could start seriously.
The ink to Lbi The opinion was just dry when the states began to rush to adopt voter repression laws. At that time, Attorney General Greg Abbott said that the law on the recognition of state voters, who was discreet enough to be blocked by federal promotion to that point, would Update immediately. (This law will eventually be blocked in the federal court.) Within a few days of the release of opinion, Mississippi and Alabama announcement plans for the enforcement of laws previously obstructed by the Federal Policy Policy. North Carolina Also passed quickly A bill so frustrated by black voters, that the fourth Circuit court ruled “is targeting African Americans with almost surgical accuracy”.
We are in a period of revision where the prevailing attitude between the conservatives is that only the “competent white”, as under the Foreign Minister for public diplomacy Darren Betty notedmust be responsible.
“The responsible whites must be responsible if you want things to work,” he wrote on X, the social media network owned by Elon Musk in October. “Unfortunately, our whole national ideology is based on the placement of women and minorities, and to discourage the competent whites.”
This is obviously absurd, especially since people Trump lifts to positions. The Crusade of the Trump to get rid of the Federal government of the Dei is not to bring some kind of meritocracy to the federal government missing before – it is primarily to replace specialized people with believers. And more importantly, it is the targeting and removal of people whose views of Trump are unwanted by public life and their refusal access to power levers. Black. Women. LGBTQ+ people.
And the best way to deny people access to power is to make sure they cannot vote for people who provide this access. Political power starts with the electoral box. It begins with the election of leaders who reflect the interest of minoroid people, passing policies that benefit these communities and keeping power in charge if they do not deliver. Since its establishment, the US has perfected the art of closing black voters. And while alphabetic tests and poll taxes no longer exist, the closure of votes, voter clearances and extreme ridicule continue to ensure that Republicans should never be worried about being responsible for their own people. If it were not for the constant efforts to keep black people away from the vote, it would be possible to vote for politicians who push Trump’s anti-dei political anti-dei, for example.
It is almost fun how fast this country has proven that Roberts is wrong. Claimed that the kind of racism created by VRA was largely a thing of the past, but this claim is overlooked by the post-Lbi Dam of restrictive and discreet laws that exude black voters. Since Roberts broke VRA in 2013, states have introduced nearly 100 restrictive laws, According to a Brennan Center report. And many of these laws are found in states with a history of racial vote of discrimination – which will be subject to promotion if Roberts had not pushed a hole in the barrier that held the flood of racist laws. So when you see Blacks standing in order for hours To vote, you can thank John Roberts. When Regulations to heating the line Prevent people from providing water and food to people waiting for hours in the end of electoral positions, you can thank John Roberts.
And we must not forget it if not for LbiAbortion would still be a federally recognized right. So we have John Roberts to thank for it too.
CORRECTION: A previous edition of this article rushed to the part of the voting rights law Shelby v. Holder. The decision destroyed section 4, which actually dulls section 5.