Georgia & The Voting Rights Case

What does the Supreme Court's hearing and decision about the Voting Rights Act of 1965 mean to Georgia?

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John Lewis and Nathan Deal: Bookends on voting rights decision

U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, the last speaker living who addressed the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago, on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that – in effect -- frees Georgia from the toughest requirements of the Voting Rights Act: “Today, the Supreme Court stuck a ...

Kyle Wingfield: Section 5 not addressed in Voting Rights decision

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a section of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional, but not the one everyone thought was at issue.

The U.S. Supreme Court says a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act cannot be enforced until Congress comes up with a new way of determining which states and localities require close federal monitoring of elections.

Voting Rights Decision: Why it's important

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a much-anticipated case involving the Voting Rights Act. The ruling came in an Alabama case, Shelby County vs. Holder, which challenges Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. That section requires all or parts of states with a history of discriminatory practices — ...

Analysis: Two views of the Voting Rights Case

The Supreme Court heard arguments in February 2013 involving the “preclearance” provision (Section 5) in the Voting Rights Act, which says nine states and certain areas in seven others must get federal approval before changing election procedures. Most of the affected governments are in the South. Two local law school professors look at the legal challenge.

Reaction to Voting Rights decision

Reactions to Supreme Court ruling that halts use of a key provision in landmark Voting Rights Act:“I am deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision today… Today’s decision invalidating one of its core provisions upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where ...

Voting rights law deepened political divides

The Voting Rights Act has done what it was intended to do: bolster the political fortunes of racial and ethnic minorities. But the landmark civil rights bill has also done something that wasn’t planned: feed the sharp partisanship that has tied the nation’s government in knots. By dramatically expanding the ...

Politifact Georgia: Costs associated with the Voting Rights Act can vary by case

Politifact Georgia examines a comment by U.S. Rep. John Lewis about the cost of the Voting Rights Act in a February 24th, 2013 in newspaper column. He wrote: "Opponents of Section 5 (of the Voting Rights Act) complain of state expense, yet their only cost is the paper, postage and manpower required to send copies of legislation to the federal government for review."

Anxious Georgians await key court rulings

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a measured decision on affirmative action Monday, leaving three of its most anticipated rulings — two on same-sex marriage and one on voting rights — for today or later this week. And that left Georgians on both sides of those supercharged issues in a state ...

From left, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., stand outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, during a rally before oral arguments in the Shelby County, Ala., v. Holder voting rights case. The justices are hearing arguments in a challenge to the part of the Voting Rights Act that forces places with a history of discrimination, mainly in the Deep South, to get approval before they make any change in the way elections are held.

Court hears arguments on Voting Rights Act

The United States Supreme Court considered Wednesday whether the stains of slavery and segregation still warrant aggressive federal intervention in the voting procedures of a few targeted areas. The Court’s conservatives voiced sharp skepticism of Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which is aimed at nine states, including ...

Celebrity chef Paula Deen in 2006. Deen’s fans are serving up deep-fried outrage to the Food Network for its decision to dump the Southern comfort food queen after she acknowledged using racial slurs in the past. AP/ Food Network

Paula Deen and judgments on a changing South

SAVANNAH -- This is a weekend of pins and needles for the South, so it is only appropriate that Paula Deen should figure into it. The celebrity chef, the pride of this city, was booted off the Food Network last week after a deposition surfaced in an Atlanta court, in ...

Asian Americans say they faced voting problems

Asian American voters in Georgia had a range of problems during the 2012 presidential election, including being improperly asked to show proof of citizenship at the polls, not having access to translators or interpreters when reviewing ballots, and having their names misspelled on voter rolls. That’s according to poll data ...

Voting rights ruling poses a challenge to Ga. GOP

NOTE: This is a truncated version of my Wednesday AJC column, to be available shortly behind the paywall. According to a five-justice majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, minority voters in Georgia and other states with a history of segregation no longer need special protection under the Voting Rights Act. ...

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