![SCOTUS Overturns Portions of the Voting Rights Act [Update]](https://progresspond.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Justice-1024x640.jpg)
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{Update1} TPM – Supreme Court Guts The Voting Rights Act
Twitter@NBC News US Supreme Court overturns portions of the Voting Rights Act
ABC News: High Court Voids Key Part of Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court says a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act cannot be enforced until Congress comes up with a new way of determining which states and localities require close federal monitoring of elections.
The justices said in 5-4 ruling Tuesday that the law Congress most recently renewed in 2006 relies on 40-year-old data that doesn’t reflect racial progress and changes in U.S. society.
The court did not strike down the advance approval requirement of the law that has been used, mainly in the South, to open up polling places to minority voters in the nearly half century since it was first enacted in 1965. But they said lawmakers must update the formula for determining which parts of the country must seek Washington’s approval for election changes.
The Hill: Supreme Court strikes down key part of Voting Rights Act in 5-4 ruling
The court did not strike down the advance approval requirement of the law that has been used, mainly in the South, to open up polling places to minority voters in the nearly half century since it was first enacted in 1965. But they said lawmakers must update the formula for determining which parts of the country must seek Washington’s approval for election changes.
While the court essentially punted on affirmative action, it was willing to go further in rolling back the Voting Rights Act. Supporters of the civil-rights law have already argued that a decision striking down the pre-clearance requirement would amount to judicial activism, citing the broad bipartisan support for the provision in Congress.
Congress first passed the requirement in 1965, and has reauthorized it several times since then — most recently in 2006. The court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said the 2006 reauthorization is an unfair burden on states because Congress has never revised the original formula for determining which states must gain pre-clearance.
