Hasen on VRA renewal
Rick Hasen writes on Findlaw.com: Important provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) expire next year, unless renewed by Congress. The good news is that a vigorous debate is taking place over whether, and how, the relevant VRA provisions should be amended before they are renewed. The bad news is that this debate is taking place among academics, not among Members of Congress.
Rather than considering changes to the relevant VRA provisions, Congress seems poised to simply renew them in their present form for another 25 years . But that move could embolden the new Roberts Supreme Court to strike the Act down as unconstitutional. Moreover, a simple renewal squanders an opportunity for Congress to take a more serious look at how it can fix its voting laws to better protect minority voting rights in the Twenty-first Century.
Before it closes the "deal" on VRA renewal, Members of Congress should look more carefully at what can, and should, be done. -- FindLaw's Writ - Hasen: What Congress Should Consider Before Renewing the Voting Rights Act A Chance to Preempt Supreme Court Invalidation, and Better Protect Minority Voting Rights