of 1965, there would be no barack obama as president of the united states of america. we ve come too far, made too much progress to go back. this decision represents a serious setback for voting rights. and has the potential to negatively affect millions of americans across the country. in a 5-4 ruling the court s conservatives said the areas covered by the voting rights act have changed but the law has not kept up. the act requires states with a history of voter discrimination to get permission from the federal government before changing how they conduct elections. the court left that part intact. but it struck down the map, the coverage formula of where that requirement applies. that s all of nine mostly southern states and parts of six others. chief justice kru john roberts said the map is based on decades-old data and eradicated practices. in five of the covered southern states, he said, african-americans have a higher voter turnout percentage than whites. opponents of the law
was discriminatory effect on that plan. and so for the supreme court to rule, to strike down the coverage formula in the shelby county case i think is not only ironic, but it s really tragic. i really hope that we in congress will act quickly to make sure that we protect the right to vote for all americans. well, you know, jeff, when you look at the fact that the chief justice roberts, he wrote a majority opinion, quote, our country has changed. and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions. well, that sounds to me like, well, the patient is not all the way healed. so find out how to heal the patient in total, and we ll withdraw the medicine that has been keeping the patient going while you re looking for that. it seems like a crazy way to do something, unless you really
voter suppression and legislation, anew given the supreme court s decision. that s why it s critical that congress move quickly and carefully. there s going to have to be hearings. there will be a record. we want to see them do something as quickly and intelligently as possible and draft a new coverage formula, which is consistent with these times. but this is what is important. this pendulum has swung from the 60s. the 70s, the 80s, the 90s to u 21st century. 40 states, in fact, where legislation was introduced to suppress the votes which had the intent, i think of trying to suppress the vote of poor people of color and people of color across the nation. there was a reaction to that. the justice department intervened. civil lawsuits were filed across the country. there was a mobilization effort which pushed that back and
the united states. what the supreme court did today i think was not only an act of judicial overreach, but it was a real betrayal of minority voters in this country and it was a slap in the face to congress because congress reauthorized the act in 2006. they amassed a 15,000-page record. they looked rigorously at not just what happened in 1965 or 1975, or 1982 when the voting rights act was reauthorized, but they looked at what had been happening in the covered jurisdictions under the voting rights act up until 2006 and they determined that the act had to be reauthorized and that the coverage formula was appropriate to protect minority voting. the supreme court today has essentially thrown out the 15,000-page record that congress amassed and has essentially said that 98 senators, and 390 representatives in the house, acted irrationally when they reauthorized the voting rights act in 2006.
of the voting rights act. the issue related to the coverage formula, as you mentioned in your opening, there is a bailout provision that allows jurisdictions to be preempt from the preclearance requirements to the extent they demonstrate hostility no longer exists. in fact, i believe 198 jurisdictions since the passage of the voting rights act have been excluded and exempt. there is flexibility built into the law to make adjustments as change things. there s a provision for if you can establish for ten years you haven t had issues, can you get out of it. there s a lot more on this we want to pick up on right after this. [ male announcer ] moving object detection. blind spot warning. lane departure warning. safety, down to an art. the nissan altima