Shelby County V. Holder: A critical analysis
Introduction
Along the time human beings have been able to evolve and modify its surroundings despite the environmental challenges. As a result, society has been creating laws in order to regulate different aspects of life. Shelby County V. Holder has a variety of components that made this case relevant. Despite the seniority of article 4 and 5 of the voting rights act of 1965. Shelby County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census the population was 195,085 (Census Bureau, 2017). The county is named in honor of Isaac Shelby, Governor of Kentucky from 1792 to 1796 and again from 1812 to 1816.Shelby County is included in the Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area(Encyclopedia of Alabama,2017). Shelby County V. Holder is a 2003 landmark United States Supreme Court case, which deliberated the constitutionality of section four and five of the Voting rights act of
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The constitution and the fifteenth amendment were written to promote the American values such as freedom of speech and liberty to vote in a democratic nation. The voting rights should always be guaranteed and requirements to vote should not be complicated. States should also have the right to exercise its sovereignty, but states should not be able to restrict any American citizen the right to vote. This new requirement that states have been implementing prove that racial discrimination has not decreased and the impact in minorities is still relevant. Shelby County V Holder case was extremely important to have a clear understanding of the complexities of American politics and its executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Shelby County V. Holder also makes millions of Afro-American as well a minorities susceptible to voting discrimination by freely allowing states to implement restrictions on voting requirements (Civil Rights Organization,
Finally, with the ratification the fifteenth amendment in 1870s, it secured the vote for the African Americans, and it forbid states from denying any citizens from the right to vote based on race, color, or “previous condition of servitude.” These three amendments were significant changes during the Reconstruction period because all people, not just white, can fully enjoy being an American citizen without worrying over their race or
Before 1948 Julius A. Wolf had been arrested and tried for reasons not stated in the Supreme Court case, but the evidence that was used against Wolf was taken unlawfully, the police had no warrant for his arrest as well as no warrant to search his office. Wolf was able to get an appeal to be tried one more time. In 1948 the trial Wolf v Colorado Supreme Court had begun. It was a very controversial topic because the case was based on the violation of the Fourth Amendment right of protection from search and seizures.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses racial segregation and all the injustices to the black American society. He writes this letter as a response to the eight clergymen, but it also became one of the most influential letters in defense of nonviolent movement ever written. Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the country and the most violent. Even after segregation was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1954. In Birmingham, white and black Americans were very much separate with “white only” hotels, restaurants, and even bathrooms.
We see multiple successes of voting equality attempted through amendments, however, the Supreme Court’s decision on Shelby County v. Holder has pushed back years and years of effort for voting rights. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling was in Shelby County’s favor, stating that the Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional along with Section 5. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, who wrote the majority’s opinion, said that the power to regulate election was reserved to the states, not the federal government. As a result to the court’s decision, the federal government can no longer determine which voting law discriminates and can be passed. After the case, many states had freely passed new voting laws; the most common voting law states passed
(Scottsboro trials). The Fourteenth amendment clearly states
Throughout the course of America's History, there have been decisions in law that have defined the America as a country, that have reinvented laws for better or for worse, and have affected the lives of millions. Some of these impactful decisions fell under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court like Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and Plessy v. Ferguson. Of course without the judgment of the Supreme Court Justices, none of the decisions could have been made. Earl Warren was a Supreme Court Justice who served from 1953 to 1969. During this period Earl Warren was truly able to leave a lasting impression on America’s history by helping decide court cases that were extremely important to the lives of millions in America then and now.
Arguably the most significant civil rights activist in American history, led the boycott to victory. Consequently, the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation for public transportation as unconstitutional. Here by, "***INSERT LAW -QUOTED**** BROWDER VS GALE 1956
The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the
To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”
The Voting Rights Act was implemented in 1965 to combat the country’s long history of voting discrimination. Section 5 created a preclearance rule for certain districts, requiring that they must seek approval from the attorney general before making any changes to their voting procedures (Oyez 2018, Shelby County). Section 4(b) creates the formula for Section 5, mapping out the districts eligible for preclearance. Under Section 4(b), any state or district that had certain voting test in place or had a turnout of less than 50% for the 1964 presidential election, would be the eligible areas required for federal review. In 2006, Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act, with a nearly unanimous vote from both houses, establishing an extensive congressional record proving the original
In 1891, a group of concerned young black men of New Orleans immediately formed the “Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law.” They raised money and engaged Albion W. Tourgée, a prominent Radical Republican author and politician, as their lawyer. The poeple involved in this case are the young concerned black men the us government and the states. On May 15, 1892, the Louisiana State Supreme Court decided in favor of the Pullman Company’s claim that the Separate Car Law was unconstitutional. The importance of this case is that In 1883, the Supreme Court finally ruled that the 14th Amendment did not give Congress authority to prevent discrimination by private individuals(Plessy v.
The ruling thus lent high judicial support to racial and ethnic discrimination and led to wider spread of the segregation between Whites and Blacks in the Southern United States. The great oppressive consequence from this was discrimination against African American minority from the socio-political opportunity to share the same facilities with the mainstream Whites, which in most of the cases the separate facilities for African Americans were inferior to those for Whites in actuality. The doctrine of “separate but equal” hence encourages two-tiered pluralism in U.S. as it privileged the non-Hispanic Whites over other racial and ethnic minority
Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.
However, until today, African Americans still couldn’t get their real voting rights. This act doesn’t totally infer this situation, no matter how industrious blacks demand their completed fundamental rights. Except African American, within the United States, many minorities have struggled for their rights for many years. It is necessary for a government to protect all citizens’ rights, including the minorities. If the government couldn’t do that, as a citizen, we should speak out our perspectives by participating in the voting
Many people were brutally beaten and there were also some that lost their lives, because of it. Lyndon B Johnson begins his speech his by convincing his listener that he will flight for what is owed to the Negros. That is the equal right to vote regardless of your race. The speech “We Shall Overcome”, speech gets to the core of the problem within the Legislation itself. He wants to see that everyone will abide by the 15th Amendment that gives Negros the right and the privilege to vote without any recourse, without worrying