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The last time the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, only one state asked that its key provision be struck down. But just four years later, seven states say the most effective civil rights statute in the nation's history has outlived its usefulness.
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As the Supreme Court takes up fundamental challenges to voting rights laws and affirmative action, the storied NAACP Legal Defense Fund prepares to take on a new leader, Sherrilyn Ifill.
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At issue is whether states that once blocked African-Americans from voting should still be subject to the landmark 1965 legislation.
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A federal court has rejected part of Florida's new election law that would have restricted the number of early voting days. The ruling, affecting five counties, is a win for groups who say the new law was meant to suppress voter participation in areas with large minority populations.
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At stake is whether Louisiana will now have its first African-American chief justice. Justice Bernette Johnson was elected in 1994 to a special seat created to remedy racial disparities. Now, there's a conflict over whether she is actually the longest-serving justice, and therefore entitled to be the chief.
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Alabama, Florida and Texas are among five jurisdictions challenging the constitutionality of a key provision of the civil rights law that requires governments with a history of discrimination to get federal permission to change election procedures.
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A federal judge has blocked state elections officials from enforcing tough restrictions on groups that conduct voter registration drives. And the Justice Department has sent a letter to Florida telling it to immediately halt efforts to purge from the voting rolls people suspected of being noncitizens.
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South Carolina has filed a federal lawsuit that legal observers say is bound for the Supreme Court, where justices could rule on the constitutionality of the landmark civil rights law.