U.S. Supreme Court limits minority voting provisions

By a slim 5-4 decision the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to limit minority voting provisions under the Voting Rights Act.

The case presided on by the magistrates referred to the creation of some election districts designed to maintain African-American and Latino voters. The decision thus reverses a North Carolina redistricting plan that aimed to preserve minority voting power in a district where racial minorities made up 39% of the electorate.

Speaking for the majority (all of whom are conservative), Justice Anthony Kennedy said that the Voting Rights Act did not warrant the creation of a new district where less than half of the electorate consist of minorities. The four dissenting, liberal judges decried the decision with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg urging Congress to work diligently to clarify the law.

Today’s ruling has a significant effect on the Latino electorate:

The ruling may make it harder for minority candidates to win election in some voting districts. The court under Chief Justice John Roberts has repeatedly shown skepticism about governmental considerations of race in voting and other contexts.

The court in April is scheduled to hear arguments in a potentially more far-reaching Voting Rights Act case, one challenging the requirement that the Justice Department give advance approval before district lines or other voting rules can be changed in many parts of the country.

Image- mlive.com
Online Sources- Bloomberg, IHT, Reuters