Ari Berman: Why Is the Voting Rights Act on the Chopping Block?

Ari Berman: Why Is the Voting Rights Act on the Chopping Block?

Ari Berman: Why Is the Voting Rights Act on the Chopping Block?

Ari Berman appears on Washington Journal to debate the importance of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act—which is currently under review by the Supreme Court.

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Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires districts with a history of disenfranchising people of color to get federal approval before changing their voting procedures, is currently under review by the Supreme Court. As Nation writer Ari Berman argues, the petition against Section 5 is part of a growing movement to suppress the minority vote. “You’ve had a concerted effort to pour a lot of money into groups whose express goal and purpose is to challenge laws like the Voting Rights Act,” he says. Appearing on Washington Journal, Berman goes head-to-head with the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky to debate how far the United States has come since 1965. 

—James Cersonsky

Read Ari Berman's report on the Supreme Court's review of Section 5. 

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