SCOTUS - voting rights and representation Flashcards
VOTING RIGHTS
successes: Voting Rights Act 1965
Congress passed landmark legislation on voting rights such as Voting Rights Act of 1965 - this outlawed discriminatory voting procedures in the southern states.
section 4 - includes the fact that states and localities must have major changes in their voting laws/practices approved in advance at the federal level.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: John Lewis VRA Jan 2022
because of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin’s vote against exempting the bill from filibustering rules.
the bill died.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: Shelby County v Holder 2013
SCOTUS struck down pre-clearance formula as unconstitutional - C.J Roberts wrote for the majority.
majority opinion stated that racial disparity in voter registration and turnout was compelling evidence justifying the pre clearance formula in 1965.
within days, Texas announced that a voter ID law had been previously blocked would go ahead with immediate effect - POC are disadvantaged by voter ID because they are less likely to have it - they may not be able to afford it or they may not be mobile enough.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: percentage of eligible black voters who turn out to polls
1980 - only 50% of eligible black voters went to the polls in comparison with 61% of white voters.
2020 election - 71% of eligible white voters went to the polls and 58% of eligible black voters went to the polls.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: photo ID
9 states have introduced photo ID requirements for all voters in the run up to 2016 election, which included six states who have high proportions of black voters who are statistically less likely to possess such documentation.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: felony disenfranchisement
1980 - just two states disenfranchised more than 10% of their black voters
by 2020, 11 states had disenfranchised more than 10% of their black voters.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: Husted v Randolph Institute 2018
voter caging practices = if an individual has not voted for a period, they are sent a notice through the mail and if they do not respond, they are struck off the voter register - NAACP argues this affects minority voters more so than white voters.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: ‘voter fraud’
Republican states have made it harder to vote by decreasing opportunities for early/postal voting and reducing the no. of polling stations.
in the run-up to the 2020 election, SCOTUS in a series of judgements held along 5-4 conservative-liberal divide upheld voting restrictions put in place by Republican states e.g., allowing Florida to bar people with felony convictions from voting unless they paid court fines and fees.
VOTING RIGHTS
failures: closing polling stations
since 2012, Texas has closed 750 polling stations, and has made it difficult to eat or drink in the queue which prevents people from voting.
REPRESENTATION
congress successes
117th congress was the most racially diverse congress in history - record 26% of its representatives came from POC.
no. of black Americans grew from 56-63
REPRESENTATION
presidency successes:
Jesse Jackson won over 3 million voted in the Democratic primaries and finished third in the 1984 contest - he became the first black American to win a major-party presidential primary, winning four state primaries.
he ran again in 1988 and did even better, winning 11 contests and finishing second behind Michael Dukakis.
Obama won the presidency in 2008 and he was re-elected to a second term in 2012.
REPRESENTATION
cabinet successes
Biden’s cabinet is the most racially diverse in American history - Kamala Harris was the first BAME VP.
Lloyd Austin = the first black American to serve as Defence Secretary - happened under Biden.
7/16 cabinet posts were given to POC
REPRESENTATION
congress failures
39% of America is POC and so they are still VERY under-represented.
REPRESENTATION
presidency failures
in 2020, none of the POC candidates made it through to the final two years in the Democratic primaries.
in 2020, the finalists were two old white men.
REPRESENTATION
cabinet failures
further it could be a temporary trend - Trump in 2016 had the least ethnically diverse cabinet since Reagan with only 3 POC people.
