Supreme Court Strike Down Part of the Voting Rights Act

U.S. Supreme Court justices grappled with minority voting rights Act in Texas’s congressional and state legislative districts, trying to find a quick answer to a legal conundrum against the backdrop of looming deadlines.


During arguments today in Washington, the justices gave no clear indication as to how, or when, they will rule. The case tests the power of judges to redraw election maps and the strength of a central provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.


Several justices lamented the lack of an easy solution to a case being considered on an expedited schedule because of the impending Texas primary, now set for April 3 after a judge delayed the vote for a month. The justices discussed moving the primary date back further to give the courts handling different aspects of the case more time.


“Why can’t this all be pushed back, and wouldn’t that eliminate a lot of the problems we are grappling with in this case?” Justice Samuel Alito asked.


The dispute stems from maps drawn last year by the Republican-controlled Texas legislature after the decennial census. Governor Rick Perry, now a Republican candidate for president, signed the maps into law. Minority groups are challenging the maps.


The Texas case may affect Democratic prospects to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans now control the chamber 242-192, with one vacancy.


The fact that the Supreme Court decided to hear the case at all makes it seem unlikely that they will simply endorse the maps drawn by the federal court in San Antonio.
But whether the court will approach Texas’ redistricting quandary narrowly, or take a broader stance on the constitutionality of preclearance, remains to be seen.
At minimum, the Supreme Court will have to rule on what maps Texas should use in its upcoming election.
As Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog put it, “The Court must either draft maps of its own, accept — even grudgingly — something that already exists, or find a streamlined way to get the District Court in San Antonio to craft a plan that minimally alters the state’s maps.”
But there’s been speculation that the Court could also use the case as an opportunity to address the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the part that requires certain states to obtain preclearance of plans that affect minority voters.
The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake called this “the Nuclear Option.” One of the key elements of preclearance is that it places the burden of proof on the state governments to prove that their plans are not discriminatory, rather than requiring minority groups to organize and pay for expensive legal challenges. By invalidating the Section 5 preclearance requirement, the Supreme Court “would allow these states greater freedom to draw their maps and increase the burden on minority groups and others who may fight the maps in court,” Blake wrote.
The Supreme Court seemed to come close to overturning Section 5 two years ago, in another case from Texas. That decision made it clear that the Court had serious reservations about the limits the Voting Rights Act places on a state’s sovereignty.
In that ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote that “the Act now raises serious constitutional concerns,” and that it “differentiates between the States in ways that may no longer be justified.”
This time around, the conservative Cato Institute has submitted an amicus brief to the Texas case asking the Court to review the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, arguing that the statute “no longer serves its original purpose.”
But some experts doubt that the Supreme Court will tackle Section 5’s constitutionality in the Texas case.
Richard Pildes, a New York University law professor, told MSNBC, “The court recognizes that it must act more quickly than usual, given the time pressures involved with primary elections looming shortly down the road. For all those reasons, the court is likely to focus on the narrowest issues needed to resolve the particular legal issues presented.”
Cato isn’t alone in its opposition of the Voting Rights Act. Georgia Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, the Republicans’ point man for congressional redistricting, has long opposed the act, calling it “outdated, unfair and unconstitutional.” In a speech opposing the extension of the act in 2006, Westmoreland argued that Georgia’s record of voter equality “can stand up to any other state in the nation” and that the Voting Rights Act’s renewal would “keep my state in the penalty box for 25 more years based on the actions of people who are now dead.”
But the Voting Rights Act also has strong, bipartisan support. President George W. Bush gave it high praise. Executives from Wal-Mart, AT&T, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Disney and other large corporations wrote to Bush urging him to reauthorize the law and describing it as a cornerstone of American society. The Senate ultimately approved the 2006 extension of the act 98-0, and the House 390-33.