Liberal journalists and lawmakers were incensed Tuesday following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key section of the 1965 Voting Rights act.
The Court nullified Section 4(b) of the law, ruling 5-4 that the standards used to select the parts of 15 states that currently need to gain “pre-clearance” from the federal government before passing their own voting laws are outdated.
The Court left it up to Congress to choose new formulas to decide which parts of the country are still at risk of violating the 15th Amendment to the Constitution.
While most news outlets avoided broadcasting their own opinions officially, many liberal politicians and figures in the press condemned the decision as an attack on civil rights.
MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry:
Damn, that citizenship thing was so great for awhile.
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) June 25, 2013
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes:
I am slightly surprised by how physically enraged I find myself.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 25, 2013
New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro:
Tough term gets tougher? First black president watches as High Court strikes down part of Voting Rights Act.
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) June 25, 2013
Slate’s Jessica Winter:
Shorter #SCOTUS: The Voting Rights Act works so well we have to maim it, just to check its awesome powers.
— Jessica Winter (@winterjessica) June 25, 2013
The New Republic’s Alec MacGillis:
Yeah, undoing a major civil rights landmark is a pretty good day's work. RT @MickMaynard No more #SCOTUS opinions today, per @SCOTUSblog.
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) June 25, 2013
Meanwhile, conservative journalists made light of the outrage by their counterparts:
Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro:
Anyone contending that striking down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act will return us to 1965 is a moron, pure and simple.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 25, 2013
The Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein:
Based on hearing MSNBC in the background, I'm pretty sure SCOTUS just reinstated the 3/5ths compromise.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) June 25, 2013