Voting Rights Act

"I voted on Native land" sticker created by Urban Native Era is held in a person's hand. The sticker is red and blue with a white background.

100 years of citizenship tribal advocates press citizens to vote

This year is the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act, yet tribal leaders and advocates say too many Natives are still hesitant to vote.

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge wears a Native American headdress of the Sioux tribe as he is adopted as Chief Leading Eagle and first white chief of the tribe at the celebration of the 51st anniversary of the settlement of Deadwood, South Dakota, in 1927. Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

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100 years ago, US citizenship for Native Americans came without voting rights in swing states

Morgan Lee, Associated Press

An act of Congress a century ago guaranteed citizenship to wary Native Americans in an age of forced assimilation and marked the outset of a long journey to secure voting rights. Daunting legal and logistical obstacles to voting persist in remote stretches of the southwestern United States, where the Native vote is credited with swinging the 2020 presidential election in Arizona to President Joe Biden. In New Mexico, recent election reforms are promising tribal communities a greater voice in how and where they can vote 鈥� bolstering an already robust path to political power.

Politics

City In Colorado Could Join Movement To Give Younger Citizens The Vote

Rae Ellen Bichell

If the measure passes in November, the town of Golden, Colorado may join a handful of cities that allow 16-year-olds to vote in local elections. The idea鈥�

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Attorney General Eric Holder was "wrong to mess with Texas."

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Justice Files Voter Discrimination Suit Against Texas

Scott Neuman

Attorney General Eric Holder's office has filed a lawsuit alleging that the state's voter ID law keeps minorities from the polls.

Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the National Urban League annual conference on Thursday in Philadelphia.

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Holder Seeks Continued Oversight Of Texas Election Laws

Scott Neuman

The attorney general says Justice wants continued authority over Texas election law despite a Supreme Court ruling last month striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

People wait in line outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Feb. 27, 2013, to listen to oral arguments in the Shelby County, Ala., v. Holder voting rights case. In June, the court struck down a key provision of the law that established a formula to identify states that may require extra scrutiny by the Justice Department regarding voting procedures.

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The Voting Rights Act: Hard-Won Gains, An Uncertain Future

NPR Staff

The Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the civil rights-era legislation in June. Free of past restrictions, some states acted quickly to change their voting laws, and it is now up to Congress to figure out where the act goes from here and how to continue to protect voters from discrimination.

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A 'Mea Culpa'

Nina Totenberg

Nina Totenberg discusses an error she made in a recent story about the Supreme Court term.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts (left) and Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

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Whose Term Was It? A Look Back At The Supreme Court

Nina Totenberg

The end of this latest Supreme Court term leaves us with questions: Is it Justice Kennedy's court or Justice Roberts'? Does pragmatism triumph over ideological purity?

Field director Charles White of the NAACP speaks at a podium outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. The court ruled that a key part of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.

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Legalese Aside, How Do We Talk About Race Nowadays?

NPR Staff

The news this week has put race on America's brain. There were the Supreme Court decisions, the trial of George Zimmerman and the downfall of celebrity chef Paula Deen. But the country is still fumbling through persistent inequality, even in the absence of overt prejudice.

Election Laws Likely To Change Without Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court struck down a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act this week. The court said that the standard by which it is determined that some states need preapproval for making changes to voting laws was unconstitutional. So what does it mean for the Department of Justice and states that were affected by the law? Audie Cornish speaks with Bill Yeomans, law professor at American University.