Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

[UncleBob]

http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/s...5-would-mark-a-return-to-constitutional-order

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...-tom-perez_n_2663863.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Curious what the vibe on this one here is.

I've heard three potential outcomes for this:

One - Everything stays as it is.

Two - The section is struck down and the government reworks it so that *every* district in *every* state is subject to the same rules.

Three - The section is struck down and the people in these areas will have to use the same resources as those in other states - bringing claims of voter suppression to the court and letting the court decide on it.

Thoughts?

 

[usickenme]

"But those days are long gone" - Really Blum?

 

[Spokker]

It is funny how the Supreme Court rulings are really a simple function of conservative vs. liberal on the court. If one of the five died in the past four years, then we would be talking about how the Supreme Court would be upholding this.

Anyway, whites are well on their way to being reduced to minority status, so I do not see why this is needed anymore. When Hispanics are in charge, we are going to see what happens to black achievement, for example. Nothing, if the same policies are continued.

 

[UncleBob]

[quote name='usickenme']"But those days are long gone" - Really Blum?[/QUOTE]

Not really - but there's never a lack of lawyers ready to make a case against a local government lying around.

 

[CaseyRyback]

I saw that Shelby County is questioning the necessity of the law when in fact people feel that the area has been drawn in such a way that it minimizes the voting power of minorities.

I don't think that section 5 is going to stand as is from what I have heard, so hopefully it means that section 5 is shifted to become law across the nation.

 

[Spokker]

And yet some districts are drawn so that they become minority strongholds. It goes both ways. There's a lawsuit about it right now in Los Angeles.

http://www.intersectionssouthla.org...g_lawsuit_filed_on_behalf_of_south_la_voters/

Attorney Leo Terrell filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of residents in the 8th, 9th and 10th Council Districts, alleging that city officials used race as the basis for redrawing boundary lines for those districts.

Terrell accused the City Council of redrawing the boundaries to create a predominantly African American voting bloc in the 10th District represented by Council President Herb Wesson, who is African American. Many of the black neighborhoods represented by 8th District Councilmember Bernard C. Parks, who is also African American, were taken out of the 8th and put into Wesson's district.

This part is telling of the way racism plays out even when no whites are involved.

``Shame on this city when minorities disenfranchise minorities,'' Terrell told the Los Angeles City Council today.

Another article about race in the upcoming Los Angeles city elections: http://www.voxxi.com/latinos-likely-decide-south-l-a-campaign/

What's not mentioned in the article is what anybody's ing political views are. You'd think that'd be more important.