Seven states support Shelby County's challenge to VRA
The Birmingham News (al.com) reports: Seven states, including Alabama, are backing Shelby County's legal challenge to the heart of the Voting Rights Act, according to written arguments filed today with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Shelby County's case alleges that Section 5 threatens state sovereignty by forcing every city and county in covered areas to get permission to move a polling place or redraw district lines, for example. The areas were singled out by Congress 47 years ago because of their record of blatant discrimination against blacks at the ballot box. Such racism is history now, the states argue.
"Section 5 served a noble purpose, and America is a freer and better place for it," states the brief filed by Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas. "But Congress's refusal to amend the statute after this court identified its infirmities (in a Texas case) ... means that this court is the last and only branch of the federal government that can defend the state's coequal sovereignty."
Alaska, which has its own lawsuit challenging Section 5's constitutionality, filed a separate brief supporting Shelby County's petition. It says that state's unique geography and small population require nimble election procedures to best accommodate voters. -- Read the whole story --> Seven states backing Shelby County in appeal of voting rights case to the U.S. Supreme Court | al.com