The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted to attempt to remedy the plight of racial discrimination in voting. After finding that previous attempts to combat minority voter suppression were inadequate, the Voting Rights Act took a more active approach by prohibiting areas with a history of voter discrimination from making any changes to voting procedure before first submitting the change in law for “preclearance” by the Justice Department or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In November 2012, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would revisit the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, particularly Section 5. The Court heard oral arguments regarding Section 5 on February 27, 2013. Opponents of the Voting Rights Act argue that the law is outdated-- claiming that the circumstances that led to its enactment no longer remain. Supporters of the Act maintain, however, that the law is still necessary to address modern voting laws with discriminatory effect, such as voter ID laws, and some redistricting practices. With the future of the law in question, this presentation develops an analysis of previous Supreme Court cases regarding the Voting Rights Act, as well as the history of voting patterns among Supreme Court Justices in order give insight into how the Court might rule on the Act.
