Congressman Veasey Disappointed in Supreme Court Decision in Shelby County But Confident That Minorities Will Still Have Protection Under Section 2 of VRA
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which questioned the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act. In a 5-4 decision, the court left Section 5 of the VRA intact, maintaining the preclearance provisions. However, the Court struck down Section 4, which determines which jurisdictions will be required to seek preclearance under Section 5. As a result, Congress must now create the new formula for determining which jurisdictions will be covered under Section 5. Congressman Veasey released the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision:
“Today, the Supreme Court decided to strike down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, ruling that the current formula is outdated. Although I am relieved that Section 5 remains, it cannot function without Section 4. I am disappointed in this decision and I agree with the dissent that the majority is using the Voting Right’s Act’s own success as a justification to strike it down. I will work with my colleagues to act quickly to create a new formula by which to determine which jurisdictions should be subject to the preclearance provisions of Section 5. As my home state of Texas proved in the redistricting process in 2011, many of our elected officials unfortunately still cannot be trusted to protect minority voting rights. We need Section 5 of the VRA to ensure that minorities continue to have the right to elect the candidate of their choice.
The ruling had no effect on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and that provision will empower us to protect the changes made to Texas’s State House, State Senate, and Congressional maps under the interim plans, and to make additional changes as were shown to be necessary in Texas’s preclearance lawsuit. Although the interim maps were an improvement from the Texas Legislature’s maps, many changes are still required in order to ensure that minority voting rights are not diluted. These changes include an additional Hispanic opportunity district in North Texas.”
Congressman Marc Veasey represents Texas’ newly created 33rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes Dallas-Fort Worth.
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