An act that was made to help create more fairness in the voting system was the 15th Amendment. “The 15th Amendment was the last of the “Reconstruction Amendments" to be adopted. It was designed to prohibit discrimination against voters on the basis of race or previous condition of servitude. Previously,
Case Analysis Shelby County v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 2612 (2013) Facts of the Case: Nearly 100 years after the 15th amendment was ratified, vast disparities and blatant discrimination in voting process and practice were still pervasive, particularly in certain southern states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The 1965 Voting Rights Act
Should Supreme Court Justices Continue to Serve for Life? There is an open seat in the supreme court. Since the death of justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, President Barack Obama has attempted to appoint judge Merrick Garland to fill this vacancy. However, the currently Republican U.S. Senate has refused to act on the nomination. This is not the first time the Senate has disagreed with the president's choice of nominee. The Senate confirms just around eighty percent of the president's nominations. There is a strong rationale behind this two-tiered appointment system. Seats in the Supreme Court are extremely important positions to hold; the Supreme Court has the role of interpreting the text of the Constitution and using that interpretation
In 1965, at a time of racial discrimination in America and the emergence of a strong Civil Rights Movement, congress enacted the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which prohibits discrimination in voting. Congress could not end racial discrimination in voting by suing one jurisdiction, state, etc. at a time. Rather, Congress passed Section 5 of the VRA, which required states and local governments with a history of racially discriminating voting practices to get the approval of the U.S. Attorney General or a three-judge panel for the U.S. District Court for D.C. (“preclearace”) in order to make any changes to their voting practices. Section 4(b) said that the preclearance requirement applied to states and political subdivisions that used a “test or
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was sworn into the Supreme Court on September 26, 1986 and was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. He took the place of Associate Justice William H. Renquist when Renquist was sworn in as Chief Justice. Justice Antonin Scalias' political affiliation is Republican. Justice Antonin started his career as a commercial lawyer for a brief period. He then taught Law at The University of Virginia. After about 4 years of teaching he went into government service starting under President Nixon and then President Ford. During President Carters reign, Justice Antonin left government service to go back to teaching law. He went back into government service under President Reagans administration and was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington D.C. Justice Antonin Scalia attended Georgetown University and graduated as the Valedictorian of his class. He then went on to attend and graduate from Harvard Law School. He is married and had nine children.
The United States president, Barack Obama, nominated a longtime federal judge Merrick Garland to take the position of the Supreme Court and replace the former justice, Antonin Scalia. Merrick Garland’s past decisions related to different issues had made
Section 4 was put in place to ensure that no citizen’s right to vote is denied or abridged due to race or color. To ensure this, Section 4 states that no citizen shall be denied the right to vote due to his or her failure to comply to or pass a device or a test imposed by the state. It created a formula to identify areas where discrimination was prevalent in the 1960s and provide remedies such a five-year suspension of tests or devices such as literacy tests, property tests, the grandfather clause (if your grandfather voted, you could), and so on.
The literacy test was another means to disenfranchise African Americans as well as immigrants. In the 1840s the idea of literacy tests surfaced in discussions in northern states as a technique to prevent immigrants from voting. While the idea never made it past the discussion stage in the North, it
Judge Neil Gorsuch is President Donald Trump's choice to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated a year ago by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Gorsuch graduated from Columbia, Harvard and Oxford, clerked for two Supreme Court justices and did a stint at the Department of Justice. He attended Harvard
Summarizing and Analyzing Justice In 2013 a court case “Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder” that challenged the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision ruled that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was an act that …..was unconstitutional because
In 2013, the Supreme Court decided to gut the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Shelby County v. Holder by deciding Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. The Voting Rights Act was meant to prevent historically discriminatory states from passing discriminatory voting laws. The purpose was to end racial discrimination in voting. Section 4(b) lays out the formula for which these states are selected. Basically, if the state had a history of restricting votes through tests or other means, their voting laws would be subject to review. The constitutionality of this section, as well as Section 5, was brought into question in Shelby County v. Holder.
Gorsuch is a person who adheres strictly to a text, also known as a textualist. He supports the legal philosophy of “originalism,” which was made popular by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whom Gorsuch would replace on the court. Originalism embraces the idea that the constitution
Neil Gorsuch was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice on April 10, 2017. Since then, he has ruled on a variety of cases such as the California gun law, LGBT rights, Trump’s travel ban, and use of taxpayer money for Religious schools. His rulings have fallen on the conservative side. A good Justice has integrity, is educated, has experience, and is virtuous. Neil Gorsuch may display those qualities of a suitable Justice, but his rulings are biased from his beliefs. A Justice should plainly interpret the law, not add their own point of view. The Justice President Trump appointed, Neil Gorsuch, does have the education and experience of an exceptional judge, but his conservative values hinder his ability to express fair rulings in cases.
Circuit has been simulated in federal courts around the nation. Presently, Obama has had two hundred and eighty judges established, which signifies a third of the federal judiciary. When President Obama took office, Republicans controlled ten of the thirteen circuit court appeals. However, Democratic appointees now govern a majority in the circuit. Since federal judges have life term, most of President Obama’s judges will remain serving after he leaves office. Likewise, according to the Obama brief article, “President Obama took office after years of intense conservative focus on the courts limiting issues like abortion rights, ending racial preferences, and lowering barriers between church and state.” However, President Obama has minimized a political battle with conservatives on these issues. .”(The Obama brief, www.newyorker.com) Furthermore, another important group of judges to acknowledge is openly gay judges. According to the Obama brief article, President Obama stated in an interview with Jeffery Toobin that “when I first took office there was only one openly gay judge. His administration succeeded in adding ten additional openly gay judges.” This is one of the major accomplishments of President
SUMMARY The Voting Rights Act 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973 et seq., decision is important regarding the laws governing voting rights and their relationship to minority voters. Its implication and effects however does not end within the legal realms and dimensions but continues through to society, culture, and human rights.