Free to discriminate: How the Supreme Court unraveled the Voting Rights Act
I keep circling back to the phrase "free to discriminate" in the headline, because that's the uncomfortable truth of what the Shelby County decision unlocked. When the Court gutted the preclearance formula in 2013, it removed a key safeguard. That safeguard forced nine states and parts of others to prove their voting rules were fair before they took effect. The burden of proof flipped, and the legislative record since then shows what happens when that burden falls away.
Thirteen years is long enough to see a pattern rather than a coincidence. New voter ID requirements, fewer polling places, purges of voter rolls, all concentrated in the states that once had to ask Washington for permission. The damage shows up in real people whose votes count less. I'd want to see data on which measures have had the biggest impact, and whether courts have reversed any of them. That would tell us if the damage is permanent or something Congress could fix with a new formula, should it ever find the votes.