From the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, NAACP LDF President & Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill appeared on Melissa Harris-Perry’s show on MSNBC on March 2 — one day before the annual commemoration of Bloody Sunday.
Ms. Ifill’s appearance follows LDF’s February 27 oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, a case challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Section 5, the heart of the Act, requires certain states and localities with the worst histories of persistent and adaptive voting discrimination to obtain approval of any voting changes from the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal court.
During her appearance, Ms. Ifill discusses the Supreme Court hearing, including LDF’s arguments to the Court that adaptive voting discrimination in Alabama persists today, and that Congress–having considered a 15,000 page record, and the testimony of over 90 witnesses–acted within its power when it reauthorized the Act in 2006. Ms. Ifill also discusses the overwhelming bipartisan support underpinning the Act’s 2006 reauthorization.
View Ms. Ifill’s appearance here.
Learn more about the Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder case here and hear the Supreme Court oral argument here.
