Caltech Study Rebuts Justice John Roberts on Voting Rights Act

When the Supreme Court struck down the true intent of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, the Court’s main argument was that the landmark civil rights law was outdated.

“Discrimination against minority voters may have been pervasive in the 1960s when the law was passed, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, but ‘nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically.’”

But according to a comprehensive study on the Voting Rights Act by Caltech professor of history and social science, Dr. Morgan Kousser, the Justice’s assertion is to be refuted. Kousser examined more that 4,100 voting-rights cases — the most wide-ranging body of empirical evidence — and this evidence and data show that voting discrimination remains, concentrated in certain states and regions in the country, albeit in varying ‘current’ forms.

The evidence, Kousser writes, “shows that the Chief Justice’s factual assertions were incorrect, that the coverage formula was still congruent with proven violations.”

The Voting Rights Act has been central to debates in American government for the last two years, and Dr. Kousser has extensively studied the Voting Rights Act for over two decades. Earlier this week, the New York Times wrote an Editorial piece, featuring Dr. Kousser’s findings.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/opinion/sunday/voting-rights-by-the-numbers.html ]

Those wishing to speak with voting rights expert, Dr. Kousser, who is very clear and concise on this compelling issue, as the 2016 elections approach, contact Deborah Williams-Hedges at debwms@caltech.edu or (626) 395-3227.