FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Contact: Jessica Tramontana, 517-974-6302
LANSING – Progress Michigan issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to rule Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. The ruling also leaves the question of which jurisdictions must receive preclearance to Congress, effectively killing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. This struck down a fundamental piece of the formula established in 1965 to combat racial discrimination.
“The Voting Rights Act was a landmark law that opened the polls to tens of millions of minority voters oppressed by centuries of institutionalized racism,” said Jessica Tramontana with Progress Michigan. “Right-wing politicians in Michigan and around the country have showed repeatedly that they’ll stop at nothing to keep people from voting and rig elections in their favor. This ruling is devastating, and strikes a major blow to a fundamental pillar of what it means to be an American. The Voting Rights Act was renewed in 2008 by a House vote of 390-33, and now it’s been gutted by a vote of 5-4.”
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BACKGROUND:
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reads:
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.