Black Representation in the South: The Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court

Abstract

This paper assesses the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) that voided Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act which deprived Section 5 of its enforcement powers. The paper presents an overview of conditions leading to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. It reviews the Act’s effectiveness, a point agreed to by all. It briefly looks at the impact of a black man in the White House on racial attitudes and sketches the current economic and social changes affecting African Americans.

The paper then introduces the Supreme Court decision and traces in particular the philosophic and ideological Court precedents that underlay the Court majority’s decisionmaking. It moves on to look at efforts to restrict black and other minority election participation prior to the Court majority’s decision and then such efforts in the aftermath of the decision.

It concludes by questioning the Court majority’s argument that the society had changed to the extent the Voting Rights Act was no longer needed. It then asks what the proper role of the Supreme Court is in a democratic society and which branch of government, the Court of the Congress, should legitimately decide such issues as electoral representation. This in turn brings into relevance the question of what should be the Supreme Court’s role.

The underlying theme is a question as to what constitutes adequate representation in a democratic society.’