Can’t Spell Truth Without Ruth
The Supreme Court has just shredded up the critical Section 4 of of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: the map determining which states are required to seek federal permission before changing their voting laws. Before today, 9 states, 12 cities and 57 counties with a strong history of racial discrimination at the polls were covered by this map; Congress will now be charged with creating a new one. The decision came down 5–4, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing a steely dissent:
While racially polarized voting alone does not signal a constitutional violation, it is a factor that increases the vulnerability of racial minorities to discriminatory changes in voting law…In other words, a governing political coalition has an incentive to prevent changes in the existing balance of voting power. When voting is racially polarized, efforts by the ruling party to pursue that incentive “will inevitably discriminate against a racial group.” Just as buildings in California have a greater need to be earthquake-proofed, places where there is greater racial polarization in voting have a greater need for prophylactic measures to prevent purposeful race discrimination.
Elsewhere in the dissent, she writes, “In the Court’s view, the very success of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act demands its dormancy.” This is a major component of the majority opinion; Roberts cites a chart showing the dramatic erasure of the race gap in voter registration in six Southern states. Ginsburg, in reply, states, “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” She, like many, believes that today’s decision is a death knell for the landmark act. “Hubris is a fit word for today’s demolition of the VRA,” she writes.
Preach, Ginsburg. I’m sure Congress will have a lovely, dispassionate, reasonable and efficient time creating a new map of active racial discrimination in America. And yes: hubris is exactly what it’s called when you throw away your prophylaxis and hope that everything will work out.