The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights ACT - (Studies in American Constitutional Heritage) by Charles S Bullock & Keith Gaddie & Justin J Wert

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"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

"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