Next Wednesday marks President Barack Obama's 100th day in office, and it's also the final day of oral arguments for the Supreme Court term. What joins those two seemingly disparate events is that on that day, a landmark Supreme Court case on voting rights will be argued, case in which Obama's election has been invoked.
Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder is the name of the case, and it's a challenge to the preclearance provisions in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The challengers claim it's no longer necessary for covered jurisdictions to seek pre-approval from the Justice Department for changes in voting procedures and election laws that could dilute minority voting power. One of their prime arguments for saying Section 5 is unneeded, and unconstitutional, is that, as their brief states, "The country has its first African-American president."
But supporters of the law counter that the election of Obama came in spite of numerous voting rights violations, and assert that preclearance is still very much needed to keep making progress in empowering minority voters.
Civil rights groups will make that point in a demonstration in front of the Court before, during and after the oral argument Wednesday. The NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund are joining to stage the demonstration. "If the Supreme Court is to declare Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional, our country will take a giant step backwards," says NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous in a statement. "It will seriously undermine the very expansion of democracy that helped us reach the landmark election of the nation's first African American president, whose 100th day in office" will be that day.
The legal defense fund will be represented inside the Court as well. Debo Adegbile, the fund's litigation director, will have argument time on behalf of African-American intervenors in the case.
Comments