The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a major achievement during the Civil Rights Movement. However, it faced many legal challenges that impacted how it worked. These challenges mainly came from state and local governments, especially in the South, which didn't want to follow the federal rules meant to stop unfair treatment in voting.
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Judicial Resistance:
- Many Southern states tried different legal tricks to weaken the Act. They used things like Literacy Tests and Poll Taxes to make it hard for people to vote. By 1964, around 24% of African American voters in the South were unable to vote because of these barriers.
- After the Act was passed, courts often had to step in to handle issues about how people registered to vote and how the laws were being enforced. One important part of the Act, Section 5, required some places with a history of racial discrimination to get federal approval before changing their voting laws.
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Key Supreme Court Cases:
- In a case called South Carolina v. Katzenbach (1966), the Supreme Court decided that the Voting Rights Act was legal. They said Congress could make laws to protect voting rights.
- However, in another case, Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Court removed some important parts of the Act. This showed that there were still many legal battles over voting rights.
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Impact of Legal Challenges:
- These ongoing legal challenges led to changes in how the Act was carried out. For example, using federal examiners and observers helped keep voter registration going. By 1970, the number of registered African American voters in the South jumped from about 1 million in 1965 to 3 million.
- Legal fights also led to updates in the law, like the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970, which banned literacy tests and required bilingual ballots in places with many non-English speakers.
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Broader Statistics:
- The increase in registered African American voters showed that the Act was working despite the challenges. The percentage of registered Black voters in the South rose from about 29% in 1965 to 59% in 1972.
- Still, even with this progress, there are continuing legal and political problems that affect voting rights laws. These challenges highlight how laws, civil rights, and societal changes are connected. They also show the complicated relationship between the courts and the progress we've made towards equality.