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View Full Version : The Voting Rights Act: Redistricting, preclearance, and—racism? Still? You sure?




nobody's_hero
02-06-2011, 03:17 PM
It's redistricting time in Georgia! It's that time after census-taking when Republicans and Democrats try in vain to fake the appearance of fairness in a process that is impossible to make unbiased.

But as these two groups fight over the crayons and maps, their squabbles are meaningless to the U.S. Department of Justice, which has final say over what the result shall be.

Full article here: http://www.economist.com/node/18073323?story_id=18073323&fsrc=rss

WHEN Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) into law, South Carolina’s first congressional district was represented by Mendel Rivers, an ardent segregationist. Its congressman today is Tim Scott, a black Republican, who in the Republican primary defeated the son of Strom Thurmond, a longtime senator from South Carolina who also supported segregation. South Carolina’s governor is Nikki Haley, born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to Indian Sikh parents.

To Larry Kobrovsky, a lawyer from Charleston who also lost to Mr Scott in the Republican primary, such results show that times have changed: the racism endemic to the South in the 1960s has faded, so the VRA is no longer necessary. Mr Kobrovsky now says he plans to sue the federal government, claiming that a key section of the VRA is unconstitutional and imposes an unfair burden on jurisdictions subject to it. And he is not alone: Shelby County, in Alabama, is suing on similar grounds, as are a group of citizens from Kinston, North Carolina.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Us_s5_cvr08.PNG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act