Lawyers’ Committee Supports the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court
February 27, 2013
Today, February 27, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Shelby v. Holder, one of the most important recent cases challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 5 requires jurisdictions with a history of persistent racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before changes to voting laws become legally enforceable. In a nutshell, Section 5 ensures that minorities have equal access to the ballot box in areas where there is a strong historical precedent of voter suppression, and is applicable in all or parts of 16 states, including most states in the South, as well as Alaska, Arizona and parts of South Dakota, Michigan, California and New York.
GMMB was on the Supreme Court steps to support our client the Lawyers’ Committee in their fight to protect voting rights. GMMB was responsible for organizing and securing media interviews for Barbara Arnwine, President and Executive Director and Jon Greenbaum, Chief Counsel and one of three interveners in the case. GMMB set up onsite interviews with NPR, Sirius Radio, Arkansas Democratic Gazette and Voxxi News. Barbara and Jon spoke at a live press conference on the steps attended by top-tier outlets, including CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, BBC, PBS Newshour, MSNBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, New York Times, The Nation, LA Times, AP and Reuters. To kick-off today’s media activities, GMMB was also able to place an op-ed, jointly penned by Barbara and ACLU, in this morning’s The Hill newspaper.
The op-ed can be viewed online here.
