News

Who can defend voting rights? An appeals court ruling sharply limiting lawsuits looks likely to head to the Supreme Court

Published

November 29, 2023

By Anthony Michael Kreis
Georgia State University

The Rev. Al Sharpton, foreground third from right, holds a banner with Martin Luther King, III, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, second from right, and Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, right, and others, during the march to call for sweeping protections against a further erosion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021, in Washington. / (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

(THE CONVERSATION) A federal appeals court in Arkansas ruled on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023, that only the federal government – not private citizens or civil rights groups – could sue to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

This decision will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court – but if it stands, it could gut individual people’s and civil rights groups’ legal right to fight racial discrimination in voting.

In this article:civil rights, Lawsuits, Supreme Court, Voting rights

Editorial

QUIT PLAYIN: Jim Crow, Please!

By Vincent L. Hall Misconceptions About the Black Family On June 13, 2024, Austin Statesman reported the following under the headline, “Fact-Checking Byron Donald’s...

Garland JournalJune 20, 2024