The moderate-conservative Republican and former U.S. Congressman opines: "The Supreme Court may be on the verge of striking down Section 5 of
the Voting Rights Act, which mandates federal approval, or 'pre-clearance', of any changes to election procedures in states under
the Act’s jurisdiction (mostly Southern, but some scattered northern
jurisdictions, primarily in New York). It could be a mixed triumph for
conservatives — a blow against a regionally discriminatory rule of law
that limits Virginia and South Carolina from passing statutes that are
perfectly legal in Kansas and Indiana — but a victory that will only fuel
the impression that the political right is bent on suppressing minority
voters."
He continues his commentary: "Conservative legal activists would have been better advised to
concentrate on doing away with or revamping the other elements of the
Act that actually do much more damage to the proposition of a
color-blind politics. Ending Section 5 would be explosive, and still
won’t alter the Act’s evolution from an instrument of black voter
participation in the South to a prescription for rigged districts that
look exactly like spoils and quotas."
More commentary from Mr. Davis, about the VRA's more problematic results: "The effect is that in the Deep South, black voters influence politics
solely inside their centers of gerrymandered influence: the numbers
that remain elsewhere are not substantial enough to create authentic
swing districts where Republicans might have to seek black support to
win. In the same vein, the nature of nearly seventy percent black
districts is that their elected officials are just as un-tethered from
the need to build coalitions with conservative white voters. Not surprisingly, black Democrats and southern Republicans have not
complained. The South that results is the single most racially polarized
electorate in the country and its African American politicians are
hemmed into a race-conscious liberalism that marginalizes them
statewide. In addition, more conservative black Democrats and Black
Republicans are rendered unelectable in minority districts that leave no
room for a non-liberal brand of candidate."
Artur Davis Op-Ed: What Striking Down Section 5 Of The Voting Rights Act Won't Fix
