The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 11, 2025
Five months after peaceful voting rights marchers were viciously attacked by their own government in Selma, Alabama, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson. Anti-voter legislatures, are now challenging the VRA’s protections, even though that discrimination continues.
The VRA was intended to give teeth to the 15th Amendment, prohibiting discrimination based on “race, color or previous enslavement.” The VRA Section 5 required states with a track record of discrimination, mostly southern and some western states, to “pre-clear” their election law with the U.S. Justice Department.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 began an erosion of those protections, by prohibiting the U.S. Justice Department from enforcing those preclearance requirements. In the ensuing 12 years, power-hungry state legislatures unleashed a torrent of anti-voter bills, designed to suppress specific groups, including Black, Hispanic, Native American, and college student voters.
A 2021 decision, Brnovich v. DNC, made it harder to argue that those bills discriminated by race. In 2024, the conservative majority made it more difficult to prove racial gerrymandering under the VRA Section 2 in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP. The latest attack? A 2025 Supreme Court case from Louisiana argues the VRA’s provision for majority-minority voting districts is itself discriminatory – toward White voters. More on that in an upcoming report.
We have more on these cases at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Florida Phoenix – Tens of thousands commemorate 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma
Brennan Center for Justice – The Voting Rights Act Explained
NAACP – Voting Rights Act of 1965
Southern Poverty Law Center – 60 years after Bloody Sunday, foot soldiers address current threats to democracy
Brennan Center for Justice – (2023) Effects of Shelby County v. Holder on the Voting Rights Act
Campaign Legal Center – (2021) Supreme Court’s Decision Further Damages Voting Rights Act
League of Women Voters U.S. – (2024) Court Made Racial Gerrymandering Easier in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP
Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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