NAACP LDF Assistant Counsel Natasha Korgaonkar recently appeared on “Here and Now with Sandra Bookman” to discuss the current challenge to the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder.
With LDF defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act on behalf of six African-American voters, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case in February. Ms. Korgaonkar explained that the heart of the Voting Rights Act is at stake in this case — and that African-American voters, and other voters of color, in Section 5 jurisdictions still need this provision of the Voting Rights Act to protect their voting rights. In reauthorizing the VRA, Ms. Korgaonkar explains, Congress relied on a 15,000 page record of persistent and adaptive voting discrimination in certain states and localities with the worst histories of voting discrimination, as well as the testimony of over 90 witnesses from over 20 hearings, over a ten month period.
