The Voting Rights Act was gutted, 
but it's not yet dead

By Steve Benen

With lightning speed, state Republican policymakers responded to the Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights Act by moving on a series of new voting restrictions, primarily targeting minority groups, students, and the poor.

Hey, Supremes! That isn’t very supreme of you, is it? 

Before two weeks ago, many states would have needed Justice Department approval for these changes--approval they would not have received--but it is now "open season" on Americans' access to their own democracy.

Didn’t you guys read the Constitution? Creeps!

There is, however, a possible hurdle for those waging the "war on voting."

Pray tell, do share; our Founding Fathers are surely spinning in their graves.

The Supreme Court undermined the Voting Rights Act by targeting Section 5 of the law--the provision related to pre-clearance--ordering Congress to come up with new standards and leaving this area of the law unenforceable.

How about having Blacks guess the number of jelly beans in the jar?

Oh, that’s been done already?

But Section 2 of the VRA--described by Chief Justice John Roberts in his ruling as "permanent" and applicable "nationwide"--remains intact.

That’s good, Roberts...looks like you’ve thought of everything.

Given the discriminatory nature of so many of the Republican voting restrictions, these are cases that can be won.

Looks like all that’s left is for the fat lady to sing.

There's ample evidence, for example, that voter-ID laws have an inherently discriminatory effect.

Yeah, a discriminatory effect. Now everything’s purrfect.

The same can be said for GOP efforts to eliminate early voting opportunities and scrapping Sunday voting altogether.

Why must early voting be scrapped? Too early?

This isn't to say voting-rights advocates have a silver bullet.

On the contrary, the litigation will be costly, time-consuming, and difficult--the burden will be on the plaintiffs to prove that the laws are discriminatory, not on the state to prove that they're not.

Dear me...this doesn’t look too good for our black friends, does it?

For that matter, legal outcomes are uncertain--Republican-appointed judges may be less sympathetic to litigants fighting for equal voting rights.

Hang on Pubs, the President’s appointments for judgeships is being stalled as much as possible by your friends. It’s only a matter of time.

But it's nevertheless an angle to the fight worth watching, and may well be the saving grace for those who hope to see equal access for all.

Did I fall asleep for a few decades or have Americans always enjoyed equal access to voting?

At least since the Civil War...and if they guessed the right number of jelly beans in the bottle.