Scott Lemieux: A New America

Scott Lemieux main focus of his talk was about how the Supreme Court decision weakened the protection of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The result of this has led to statutes that limit early voting and registration, require voters to show photo ID, and purge voter rolls still disproportionately affecting poor and minority voters. The Supreme Court’s June 2013 decision also effectively shifted the burden from states to citizens. Before, a state subject to preclearance had to demonstrate that a new voting law was not discriminatory and let voting law experts in the Justice Department evaluate it before it could be implemented. Now it is up to voters to challenge voting laws by filing lawsuits under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination.

Lemieux is against the decision of the Supreme Court and describes how state legislature has been affected and changed. He describes how the majority of the nine states that are required to abide by this act has led to the federal government taking advantage of it. The federal government is now inflicting Voter ID requirements, removal of same-day registration, and other absurd measures which is all going to affect future voting. This decision has given minorities in America a really difficult time now to be able to registrar to vote now. It is wrong how America bases itself off of freedom and having the right to vote and making it seem like everyone has a fair chance to vote, but it isn’t. The Supreme court has made it more difficult for minorities to vote and goes against everything America stands for. The Supreme Court claims that it is just trying to get rid of voter fraud, but that is honestly just a bunch of bull to cover up the voter inequality issue of minorities.  

I couldn’t agree more with Lemieux about changing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. America’s political system is falling apart and no longer all that it stands for. America used to be a country that based itself off of freedom and having the right to vote, but now that his change has happened because of the Supreme Court, people’s right to vote has been stripped away from them and has torn apart the idea of a democracy. Lemieux was able to come to Muhlenberg and talk to us about this issue and now it is up to us to stand up to this issue and fix the problem.