Emory Law Journal Volume 61 Issue 2 2011 Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and Its Place in "Post-Racial" America Enbar Toledano Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj Recommended Citation Enbar Toledano, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and Its Place in "Post-Racial" America, 61 Emory L. J. 389 (2011). Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol61/iss2/4 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Emory Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Emory Law Journal by an authorized editor of Emory Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. TOLEDANO GALLEYSFINAL2 4/3/2012 12:05 PM SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AND ITS PLACE IN “POST-RACIAL” AMERICA ABSTRACT The Fifteenth Amendment purported to withdraw race and color from the calculus of suffrage. Instead, it gave rise to an era of creative exclusion in which Southern states erected one barrier after another and Congress floundered in its attempts to secure the black vote it had promised. After ninety-five years, progress at last seemed possible with the introduction of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), an echo of the Fifteenth Amendment fitted with shiny, new teeth. Section 5 of the VRA reversed the inertia of discrimination by requiring states with a demonstrated history of employing disfranchising voting practices to obtain federal preclearance before implementing any changes to their voting laws. The VRA has achieved tremendous success since its enactment, due in large part to the powers embedded in section 5.