Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Once again, voting rights are under attack, and a fatal blow to the already weakened Voting Rights Act could be underway. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently ruled that only the federal government — and not an individual or organization — may bring a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The appeals court upheld the ruling of Judge Lee Rudofsky in Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, a case that alleged racial gerrymandering in Arkansas. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that the state’s voting maps were racially gerrymandered because Black voters are over 16% of the population of Arkansas, yet the state maps contain only 11% majority-Black districts. Judge Rudofsky, a Trump appointee, ruled that only the U.S. attorney general may file a racial gerrymandering claim, not a private party.
We have a problem here if Black citizens have to rely on the federal government to fight for voting rights in federal court. What if the attorney general is appointed by a president who is hostile toward Black voting rights? If people and civil rights organizations are blocked from using the Voting Rights Act to protect themselves from racial discrimination — and the attorney general does not believe in voting rights for everyone and refuses to act — where does that leave the people?
This decision is more proof that even out of office, Donald Trump continues to hurt Black voters and other…
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