The Unintended Consequences of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

by Blum, Edward

• ISBN13: 9780844742571
• ISBN10: 0844742570
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-23
• Publisher: Aei Press

Summary

Born from bloodshed in March 1965, when six hundred black protestors marching for the right to vote in Selma, Alabama, were set upon by state troopers wielding clubs and tear gas, the Voting Rights Act was, as President Lyndon B. Johnson declared at the time, "a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield." Unfortunately, in the four decades since its passage, amendments and legal developments have made this once simple law muddled and contradictory, far removed from its original purpose of ending voting barriers for millions of African Americans.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction: A Noble Beginning	p. 1
Texas Now and Then: How Both Parties Use the Voting Rights Act for Partisan Ends-and Make Messy Politics Even Messier	p. 10
Safe-Seats-for-Life in Arizona: Using the Voting Rights Act to Kill Competitive Elections	p. 20
Wasting Everyone's Time and Money: Cumberland County, Virginia, and the Town of North, South Carolina	p. 28
Conclusion: An Ignoble Extension	p. 42
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, Its Amendments, and Its Case Law	p. 47
Notes	p. 67
About the Author	p. 77
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