The Impact of Shelby County v. Holder on Voter Suppression
Today marks 10 years since the Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, leading to a surge in voter suppression, particularly for people of color. This blog examines the effects of this ruling.
Ibram X. Kendi
Partner • #GirlDad • Scholar @BU_Tweets • Dir @AntiracismCtr • @NationalBook Award Winner • #1 NYT Bestselling Author • MacArthur Fellow • Surviving Cancer 🐍
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With elections looming, in some US states it is harder to vote than it was a decade ago, particularly for people of color. Because #OTD 10 years ago in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act, leading to a flood of voter suppression. A🧵1/
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
The 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) prevented racist voter suppression policies through "federal preclearance." The VRA required that districts with long histories of electoral racism submit any proposed changes to their voting procedures to the federal government for approval. 2/
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
Instead of voters of color harmed by new voting policies having to sue, lawmakers had to prove that new voting policies would not harm voters. And because the VRA had been effective for decades in stopping voter suppression, officials in Shelby County, Alabama, sued in 2011. 3/
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
On June 25, 2013, SCOTUS's majority opinion claimed racism had evaporated and the effectiveness of federal preclearance showed it was no longer needed. It was like ignoring the river of racism and saying a dam holding it back had been effective, so it’s no longer needed. 4/
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
What happened after the Court blew up the antiracist dam? A flood of voter suppression. Right after the ruling, Texas announced it would begin to enforce strict voter ID laws. And by 2018, officials had closed over 1,000 polling locations, primarily in Black communities. 5/
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
Racist officials have purged voter registration rolls and underfunded equipment for polling locations, leading to longer voting lines. With federal preclearance gone, new racist laws have to be challenged in courts with decisions often coming after votes have been suppressed. 6/
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
Racist lawmakers deployed an old racist idea to justify these new voter suppression policies. "Voter fraud!” “Election security!” White supremacists made similar claims to justify their near complete disenfranchisement of southern Black voters (and many poor Whites) by 1900. 7/
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
In reality, then, Black politicians and voters were the victims of all sorts of corruption from former Confederates and their children. In reality, today, voter fraud is as unlikely as alien abduction. 8/https://t.co/5jQY1LuU2w
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023 -
We must recognize not only antiracist efforts that have yielded racial progress, but racist efforts that have led to the progression of racism. We have witnessed the progression of racism over the last decade after the Court gutted the VRA in Shelby County v. Holder. 9/9
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) June 25, 2023