Yesterday, the Donald Trump Supreme Court of the United States, which has been stitched together by stealing two seats of the three that he appointed, further weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and violated the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution in the process.
The Trump Supreme Court, who voted 6-3 (along party lines), to uphold Arizona's Republican law limiting voting rights, weakens section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This ruling only further diminishes the 1960's landmark legislation that was already hit hard by another so-called conservative SCOTUS ruling in 2013 that withered section 5 of the law.
On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which expanded the 14th and 15th Amendments to prevent racial discrimination in voting practices. This was one of the staples of the Civil Rights movement, and it was a necessity then, and it continues to be critical now.
If you believe America has moved beyond its racist past, you are wrong! America has come a long way, that is not in dispute, but it has miles to go. If you need proof of that, look at all the voting laws being introduced and passed in 2021 around the country designed to limit voting, and some of these restrictions are targeted at limiting minorities from voting.
If you study American history, even in a limited way, you will note that throughout our collective story we have always expanded voting rights. We allowed all men to vote, not just landowners, and then we allowed former slaves, at least in theory, to vote, and then we allowed women to vote and so on, and so on.
Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the Federal Government was tasked with monitoring state laws to make sure that the states, especially those with a history of discrimination, were not passing laws designed solely to keep people of color and other minorities from voting (Also known as pre-clearance). This law was passed in an attempt to end Jim Crow laws and restrictions in the South. Many Southern states spent a century coming up with creative ways to limit black folks from voting, and the Voting Rights Act, made that much more difficult.
The Supreme Court in 2013 put an end to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the so-called pre-clearance clause. SCOTUS said in 2013, again along party affiliation, that the Federal government no longer needed to monitor states with a history of racial discrimination in terms of their respective election laws because we, as a nation, had moved beyond Jim Crow. Nothing can be further from the truth. Again, see the current laws being passed and their intended targets.
How does this issue got resolved? Some have argued to pack the Supreme Court with liberal justices. Not the answer! This might make people feel better especially after having watched Trump and Moscow Mitch McConnell spend four years stealing two court seats. Remember McConnell held a seat open for a year, and then filled it with Neil Gorsuch when Trump was elected despite not winning a majority of the vote, and then in 2020, Moscow Mitch blasted through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett in 30 days despite being in the middle of an election, which was his reasoning for holding the Gorsuch seat open. hypocrite!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These injustices in reality can only be dealt with by winning more elections and passing more legislation preventing states from getting away with this sort of backward anti-democratic behavior. The American public, who fought back against Trumpism in the 2020 election, can not go back to being apathetic when it comes to exercising the vote. You don't like the behavior of McConnell and Trump, vote them out. You must VOTE in every single election (Federal, State and local), and prevent these Trumpists from ending up in power positions. Make them pay with their privileged jobs.
