Supreme Court Plaza, Washington, DC — In the minutes after hearing today’s oral argument in Shelby County v. Holder, a challenge to the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, CAC President and Founder Doug Kendall issued the following reaction:

“The outcome of this case will hinge on whether Congress, or the Justices, gets to decide whether racial discrimination in voting remains a distinct problem in the areas covered by Section 5. As Solicitor General Verrilli repeatedly emphasized, the Constitution itself gives Congress the right to make that judgment.

“Unlike Justice Scalia, who called the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act the ‘perpetuation of racial entitlement,’ we think voting rights are this nation’s most established and important constitutional guarantee, and we hope the Court ultimately upholds rather than strikes down this critical statute.”

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Resources:

CAC’s “friend of the court” brief in Shelby County v. Holder: http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/briefs/Constitutional-Accountability-Center-Shelby-Supreme-Court-Amicus.pdf

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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