A new attack on the Voting Rights Act

In recent years, as the country has become more diverse, many states have passed laws restricting voting with the pretext of avoiding electoral fraud. The reality is that there is very conclusive evidence that this type of fraud is very rare and the restrictions disproportionately affect Latinos and other non-white voters at a time when their share of the electorate is increasing.

But the attacks on the right to vote They do not come only from elected legislators.

The most recent came a few weeks ago, not in a state legislature but in a court, and if affirmed, could be a devastating blow: A federal appeals court in St. Louis ruled in an Arkansas case that private individuals and Civil rights groups are prohibited from filing lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act that challenge election and voting practices that discriminate against voters because of their race or ethnicity. The court said only the federal government can bring such actions.

In other words, non-white voters facing discriminatory laws or constituency decisions that weaken the power of your vote would be up to the US Department of Justice to take action. If the department refused to bring a case, those voters would have no other recourse.

Of course the result would be catastrophic. Individual lawsuits have always constituted virtually all cases under the Voting Rights Act and have been essential to achieving fair representation and voting practices at all levels of government.

For example, a law requiring forms of voter identification in Texas that discriminated against Latino voters was struck down only because some of them, individually, filed a lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act.

But now the Arkansas opinion, which remains under appeal, threatens to significantly weaken the Voting Rights Act as an important tool by limiting who can use it. The Department of Justice simply does not have enough lawyers or resources. And in these hyperpolarized times, the sad reality is that the Department of Justice cannot always be depended on to vigorously defend the interests of voters.

During the four years of the Trump administration, for example, the Justice Department brought only one case to strike down a law under the Voting Rights Act.

All of this is a reminder that many continue to consider that this law, hailed as the most effective and transformative of civil rights in the history of the United States, is not a guarantee of equality but an attack against the political power of those who have had it.

It also reminds us of the urgency for Congress to renew and strengthen the Voting Rights Act, enacted in 1965, so that it withstands current attacks.

More about Brennan in Spanish.

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