ACLU of Texas Comment on Supreme Court Striking Down Current Coverage Formula to Voting Rights Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tom Hargis, Director of Communications, ACLU of Texas, 832.291.4776, [email protected]


In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court today struck down the coverage formula used to determine which states and political subdivisions are subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, a civil rights law that has protected the right to vote for people of color since 1965. Importantly, however, today's decision did not strike down Section 5 itself, leaving it to Congress to devise a new coverage formula.

The American Civil Liberties Union intervened in the case on behalf of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP and several residents of Shelby County whose voting rights are directly impacted by the county's challenge.

"As demonstrated by Texas’s recent history of having voting laws overturned as discriminatory, strong federal oversight remains necessary to ensure that all Texans can exercise the right to vote free from racial discrimination," said Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas. "Federal oversight of our voting process is as relevant today as it was seven years ago, when Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act with overwhelming bi-partisan support.”

“Although today’s decision takes a powerful weapon out of our arsenal for stopping voter disenfranchisement in Texas—at least until Congress comes up with a new coverage formula—it does not change the fact that voting discrimination is unlawful," said Rebecca L. Robertson, ACLU of Texas legal and policy director. "We will continue to fight in the courts and at the state capitol to stop laws that limit access to the ballot."