How The Roberts Court Laid The Groundwork For 2021’s All-Out Assault On Voting Rights | Talking Points Memo

How The Roberts Court Laid The Groundwork For 2021’s All-Out Assault On Voting Rights | Talking Points Memo

By Orville Vernon Burton and Armand Derfner

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June 17, 2021 10:00 a.m.

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This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was excerpted from “Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court” by Orville Vernon Burton and Armand Derfner, published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

 

When the Supreme Court cut the heart out of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, it cleared the way for the avalanche of voting restrictions we are seeing in 2021, in states like Georgia, Florida, Texas, and doubtless more to come. The Shelby County case continues to attract wide attention but few are aware of how the Supreme Court’s 5-4 majority abused the judicial process to reach its result. This excerpt from the new book “Justice Deferred” tells that story.