The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act
Published on 30. April 2016
Book
Hardback
258 pages
978-0-8061-5200-4 (ISBN)
Description
On June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Shelby County v. Holder, invalidating a key provision of voting rights law. The decision - the culmination of an eight-year battle over the power of Congress to regulate state conduct of elections - marked the closing of a chapter in American politics. That chapter had opened a century earlier in the case of Guinn v. United States, which ushered in national efforts to knock down racial barriers to the ballot. A detailed and timely history, The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act analyzes changing legislation and the future of voting rights in the United States.
In tracing the development of the Voting Rights Act from its inception, Charles S. Bullock III, Ronald Keith Gaddie, and Justin J. Wert begin by exploring the political and legal aspects of the Jim Crow electoral regime. Detailing both the subsequent struggle to enact the law and its impact, they explain why the Voting Rights Act was necessary. The authors draw on court cases and election data to bring their discussion to the present with an examination of the 2006 revision and renewal of the act, and its role in shaping the southern political environment in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, when Barack Obama was chosen. Bullock, Gaddie, and Wert go on to closely evaluate the 2013 Shelby County decision, describing how the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court created an appellate environment that made the act ripe for a challenge.
Rigorous in its scholarship and thoroughly readable, this book goes beyond history and analysis to provide compelling and much-needed insight into the ways voting rights legislation has shaped the United States. The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act illuminates the historical roots - and the human consequences - of a critical chapter in U.S. legal history.
In tracing the development of the Voting Rights Act from its inception, Charles S. Bullock III, Ronald Keith Gaddie, and Justin J. Wert begin by exploring the political and legal aspects of the Jim Crow electoral regime. Detailing both the subsequent struggle to enact the law and its impact, they explain why the Voting Rights Act was necessary. The authors draw on court cases and election data to bring their discussion to the present with an examination of the 2006 revision and renewal of the act, and its role in shaping the southern political environment in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, when Barack Obama was chosen. Bullock, Gaddie, and Wert go on to closely evaluate the 2013 Shelby County decision, describing how the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court created an appellate environment that made the act ripe for a challenge.
Rigorous in its scholarship and thoroughly readable, this book goes beyond history and analysis to provide compelling and much-needed insight into the ways voting rights legislation has shaped the United States. The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act illuminates the historical roots - and the human consequences - of a critical chapter in U.S. legal history.
Reviews / Votes
Greatly expanding our understanding of federal voting rights after the Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby County v. Holder,this book addresses a hugely important area of public policy by persuasively analyzing the past achievements of federal intervention and the challenges facing advocates of new legislation."" - Merle Black, coauthor of The Rise of Southern Republicans""This comprehensive history of the Voting Rights Act traces the act's success in empowering racial minorities, the various interpretations of it by the Supreme Court, and changes to the law as Congress reauthorized it over the years. Although the full impact of the high court's Shelby County decision remains unclear, this excellent volume provides informed speculation on what the future may hold."" - Thomas Brunell, author of Redistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections Are Bad for America
""The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act is an authoritative, scholarly study that students and scholars will rely on for its richly detailed and thoughtful analysis of how the act was born, lived, and now faces an uncertain future. I recommend it highly."" - Gary May, author of Bending toward Justice: The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oklahoma
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
4 maps, 30 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
551 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8061-5200-4 (9780806152004)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Charles S. Bullock III is the Richard B. Russell Professor of Political Science and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Georgia.
Keith Gaddie is a Professor in the Department of Political Science. He joined the faculty in 1996, after four years on the faculty of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. Keith offers courses in the graduate methods sequence, courses on parties, campaigns, elections, and Southern Politics, and he regularly offers the P Sc 1113 American Federal Government course. Keith is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of fourteen books: The Economic Realities of Political Reform: Elections and the U.S. Senate (1995); David Duke and the Politics of Race in the South (1995) The Almanac of Oklahoma Politics 1998 (1998); The Almanac of Oklahoma Politics 2000 (1999); The Almanac of Oklahoma Politics 2002 (2001); Regulating Wetlands Protection: Environmental Federalism and the States (2000); Elections to Open Seats in the US House: Where the Action Is (August 2000); Born to Run: The Origins of the Political Career (2004); The Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions (2008); The University of Georgia Football (2008); The University of Kentucky Basketball (2008); The University of Louisville Basketball (2008); Georgia Politics in a State of Change (2009); and The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South (2009). Over the past several years, Keith has offered commentary, interviews, or served as a guest broadcaster for several local, national and international media outlets. From 2005-07 he was a regular new contributor and host for WKY-930 AM and KTLR-890 AM, and he currently serves as a regular contributor to KGOU 106.3 FM (National Public Radio) and KWTV-9 (CBS). Keith has worked as a litigation consultant in voting rights and redistricting cases, for both major parties and for both plaintiffs and respondents, including cases in Florida, Illinois, New York, Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico and Texas.
Justin J. Wert is the Associates Second Century Presidential Professor & Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma and recipient of the 2006 American Political Science Association's Edward S. Corwin Award. He is author of Habeas Corpus in America: The Politics of Individual Rights.
Keith Gaddie is a Professor in the Department of Political Science. He joined the faculty in 1996, after four years on the faculty of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. Keith offers courses in the graduate methods sequence, courses on parties, campaigns, elections, and Southern Politics, and he regularly offers the P Sc 1113 American Federal Government course. Keith is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of fourteen books: The Economic Realities of Political Reform: Elections and the U.S. Senate (1995); David Duke and the Politics of Race in the South (1995) The Almanac of Oklahoma Politics 1998 (1998); The Almanac of Oklahoma Politics 2000 (1999); The Almanac of Oklahoma Politics 2002 (2001); Regulating Wetlands Protection: Environmental Federalism and the States (2000); Elections to Open Seats in the US House: Where the Action Is (August 2000); Born to Run: The Origins of the Political Career (2004); The Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions (2008); The University of Georgia Football (2008); The University of Kentucky Basketball (2008); The University of Louisville Basketball (2008); Georgia Politics in a State of Change (2009); and The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South (2009). Over the past several years, Keith has offered commentary, interviews, or served as a guest broadcaster for several local, national and international media outlets. From 2005-07 he was a regular new contributor and host for WKY-930 AM and KTLR-890 AM, and he currently serves as a regular contributor to KGOU 106.3 FM (National Public Radio) and KWTV-9 (CBS). Keith has worked as a litigation consultant in voting rights and redistricting cases, for both major parties and for both plaintiffs and respondents, including cases in Florida, Illinois, New York, Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico and Texas.
Justin J. Wert is the Associates Second Century Presidential Professor & Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma and recipient of the 2006 American Political Science Association's Edward S. Corwin Award. He is author of Habeas Corpus in America: The Politics of Individual Rights.