'Voting Rights Act of 1965 - vote dilution - Fourteenth Amendment' - Allen v. Milligan

America was founded on ideals of democracy, freedom, and political equality. It was also founded with racialized slavery, and for most of its history was devoted to a caste system that kept minorities from their rights through discriminatory laws and extralegal violence. Much of the nation's history has been a struggle to reconcile these two sides of the American story - to build, at last, a true multiracial democracy. At the post-Reconstruction high point of this campaign stands the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), "the crown jewel of the civil rights movement." In recent years, this landmark statute has periodically been hauled into the Roberts Court. Almost every time, it has come back with a hole punched in it. The Court declared the VRA's coverage formula unconstitutional in 'Shelby County v. Holder'. It made it harder for plaintiffs to win vote-denial claims in 'Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee'. And last Term, in 'Allen v. Milligan', the Court looked set to deliver the knockout blow by declaring that the VRA grants racial minorities only as much political influence as they would have under race-blind districts.