Civil Rights Coalition Files Amicus Brief on Supreme Court Voting Rights Act Case
Washington, DC – Today, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court highlighting the constitutionality and continued necessity of a key provision in the Voting Rights Act (VRA) that requires states and localities with a history of discrimination to submit changes in their voting process and procedures to Department of Justice or a federal district court for approval or “preclearance.” A federal district court upheld the constitutionality of the provision last May.
Congress passed the VRA in 1965 to eliminate discriminatory voting practices by state and local governments. The law has been renewed and amended several times since it was passed, most recently with a 25-year renewal passed in 2006.
The plaintiff in the case, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1, challenges this 25-year renewal and claims that the preclearance provision is no longer “necessary or constitutionally proper” because the kind of discrimination the provision is designed to stop is no longer a problem.
Congress heard ample evidence of the continuing discrimination that exists, which is why it renewed the VRA in 2006. LCCR believes that it is the right of all citizens in the United States to vote and choose leaders that represent their interests without facing discrimination – a right that is protected by the VRA and vital to the American Democracy.