Constitutional Law

House Judiciary Committee Leaders Support Voting Righs Act

A bipartisan group of House Judiciary Committee leaders has filed an amicus curiae brief in the case of NAMUD v. Holder. In NAMUD, the Supreme Court is considering whether Congress's 2006 extension of the landmark Voting Rights Act was sufficiently justified to pass constitutional muster.

In their amicus brief, Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) and Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), along with former Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), urged the court to uphold Section 5 of the Act, which 'gave the legislation teeth,' according Jeffrey Toobin.

Section 5 singles out states and counties with histories of discriminating against African-Americans through erecting obstacles to their exercise of the right to vote. Under Section 5, those districts may only change election laws with approval from the Justice Department.

ACS is co-hosting a discussion of NAMUD and recent evidence of racially polarized voting patterns featuring John Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Reps. Sensenbrenner and Watt at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 at the National Press Club. Registration is free here and video of the event will be made available, along with video of prior ACS events, here.

Oral argument in the case is scheduled for the Supreme Court's final day of the term on April 29.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 26, 2009 (boomark / email).