Although they make up 13.6% of the population, in parts of the US South, Black Americans can be up to 40% of some states. That same region also has a centuries-long history of depriving that population of their rights.
In a Monday ruling, a US federal court has dealt what legal experts describe as a devastating blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the law that banned “Jim Crow” racial segregation and other forms of racial discrimination in the United States.The 8th Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Monday that Section 2 of the 1965 law does not provide for “private right of action,” meaning individuals and civil rights groups cannot sue under the law, only the federal government can.The ruling upheld a lower court’s decision from 2021.Sophia Lin Lakin, the director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who argued the case before the court, told US media, “the ruling has put the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy, and is very cavalierly tossing aside critical protections that voters have very much fought and died for.
