In what is being viewed by political insiders as warming up for the 2016 presidential election Hillary Rodham Clinton has been making the round giving speeches. During a speech at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association Clinton vehemently defended the Voting Rights Act and blasted states such as North Carolina who have seized on the recent Supreme Court ruling to enact strict voting laws, according to the Washington Post.
"Anyone that says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention," Clinton said.
In June by a vote of 5-4 the Supreme Court removed the portion of the Voting Rights Act that required the federal government to approve of changes to voting laws in certain areas of the country on the grounds that the metric to determine which states required pre-approval was outdated.
In the minority opinion Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued that the fact that discrimination was not an issue anymore was proof that the law was working not proof that it was unnecessary.
"In the Court's view, the very success of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act demands its dormancy," Ginsburg wrote. "If the statute is working, there would be less evidence of discrimination, so opponents might argue that Congress should not be allowed to renew the statute. In contrast, if the statute was not working, there would be plenty of evidence of discrimination, but scant reason to renew a failed regulatory regime."
Clinton's views on the matter echoed those of Justice Ginsburg.
"We do - let's admit it - have a long history of shutting people out: African Americans, women, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities," Clinton said. "And throughout our history, we have found too many ways to divide and exclude people from their ownership of the law and protection from the law."
Clinton was critical of what she called an "unseemly rush" by states to create obstructions to people getting out and voting, particularly for minority voters. This week North Carolina, a state that was previously covered by federal oversight under the Voting Rights Act, passed a sweeping voter reform law. Four other states had passed strict laws prior to the Supreme Court decision and were finally able to put them into law after the court's decision, according to CBS News.
"We've seen a sweeping effort across our country to construct new obstacles to voting, often undercover and addressing a phantom epidemic of election fraud," Clinton said. "There are many problems in life that we can't fix, at least not quickly, but preserving fairness and equality in our voting system is one that we can and that we should."
