YEO Front Line News- April 2009- PFAW Connection

People For the American Way Connection:

Court Hears Challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

This month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), perhaps our country’s most successful and significant civil rights legislation, by a Texas utility district. The Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 (NAMUDNO) argued that it was exempt from obtaining federal pre-clearance for changes to its election procedures as required by Section 5 of the VRA because they contend the provision is unconstitutional.  In May of 2008, a three-judge District Court in Washington, D.C. unanimously rejected NAMUDNO’s argument that it was exempt from Section 5 of the VRA, and the Supreme Court granted cert in January. 

Section 5 requires all or part of 16 states with a history of racial discrimination in voting to have their voting procedures pre-approved (or “pre-cleared”) by the Department of Justice or a three-judge federal district court in Washington before they may be changed.  According to the Brennan Center for Justice, NAMUDNO’s compliance with the pre-clearance requirement “costs very little time and only about $233 a year.” The entire state of Texas is covered by the pre-clearance requirement in Section 5, which was reauthorized by Congress in 2006 but met strong opposition from Southern Republicans.

NAMUDNO is a small political subunit formed in the late 1980s at the northern edge of Travis County to provide specified utilities to the largely wealthy and white residents of the area. In 1990, its population consisted of 12 people. Now, it still has a relatively small population, comprising less than 1 percent of Travis County’s overall population, and is still significantly less racially and ethnically diverse than the rest of the county. 

Just last month, the Supreme ruled in Bartlett v. Strickland that the minority voting age population of a district must potentially exceed 50% in order for minority groups to use Section 2 of the VRA to challenge a new district that would impair their ability to elect a representative of their choice, a ruling that undermined some of the enforcement mechanisms of the VRA.  Yet, to its credit, the Supreme Court recognized that racial discrimination and racially polarized voting are not ancient history.  If the Supreme Court rules in favor of NAMUDNO, it could undermine hard fought voting rights progress.

On behalf of our members in Texas and in NAMUDNO, affiliate People For the American Way intervened in the suit, defending the constitutionality of Section 5.  A decision is expected by the end of June at the latest, but the Court could very well issue its decision more quickly.