Project 21’s Cooper: Voting Law Flaw Stems from Different Standard for Different States

Explaining why it is now up to the U.S. Supreme Court to reform the Voting Rights Act in the case of Shelby County, Alabama v. Eric Holder, Project 21 co-chairman Horace Cooper easily dispels the rhetoric of the other MSNBC panelists — noting that the justices will be considering “specific factual issues and the legal arguments that are associated with those.”

Pointing out how the Act unfairly holds certain states and localities to a special scrutiny for generations-old bad behavior, Horace said that “the actual, serious constitutional challenge of separating some states out and treating them one way challenges the notion of state sovereignty.”

Horace was joined in this lively debate by 2/23/13 edition of MSNBC’s “Up with Chris Hayes” by the host, Ryan Haygood of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Shelby County resident Bishop Harry Jones, Ari Berman of The Nation magazine and former deputy attorney general Julie Fernandes.



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