Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act has been crucial to challenging restrictive laws and protecting minority voting rights. This report analyzes new implications — that have so far gone largely unnoted — if the Court takes the extraordinary step of striking down this key provision.
The Brennan Center has issued fact sheets, op-eds, blog posts, and proposals highlighting the need for oversight of our nation's largest police force. This page is a compilation of this work.
We all have a stake in this democracy and in promises being kept. When Americans can no longer depend on our laws and courts to offer protection against disparate treatment and inequality, we are all burdened by that loss.
The Voting Rights Act has been America’s most effective tool to eradicate racial discrimination in voting. Today, a sharply divided Supreme Court has thrown the future of this critical tool in limbo by striking down a key provision. It’s now up to Congress to revive the act.
Supporters of the Voting Rights Act are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst as the days count down to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder. See the Brennan Center's research on what to expect.
Restrictive voter registration laws — like the one the Supreme Court struck down this week in Arizona — should remind us that America needs to modernize voting. It is clearly time to replace the paper system thereby admitting more voters.
