AUDIO

The 1965 Voting Rights Act is the crown jewel of American civil rights legislation; its passage marked the death knell of the Jim Crow South. But that was the beginning, not the end, of an important debate on race and representation in American democracy. When is the distribution of political power racially fair? Who counts as a representative of black and Hispanic interests? These complex, unresolved questions are explored by Abigail Thernstrom, vice-chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in her provocative new book, Voting Rights--and Wrongs: The Elusive Quest for Racially Fair Elections (AEI Press, June 2009), a legal and political analysis of the forty-year history of the Voting Rights Act.

The act's original aim was simple: give African Americans the same political opportunity enjoyed by other citizens--the chance to vote, form political coalitions, and elect the candidates of their choice. But southern resistance to black political power prompted a process of radical revisions to the act in order to ensure the election of blacks and Hispanics. Proportional racial representation--equality of results rather than mere equal opportunity--became the goal.

Majority-minority districts that reserved seats for blacks and Hispanics succeeded in integrating southern politics--at a cost. By now those districts may perversely limit the potential power of black officeholders. "Max-black" districts typically elect candidates to the left of most voters; those officeholders rarely run in majority-white settings. Such race-conscious districting discourages the development of centrist, "postracial" candidates like Barack Obama (who was defeated when he stood for Congress in one such district).

The Voting Rights Act has become a period piece that today serves to keep most black legislators clustered on the sidelines of American politics--precisely the opposite of what its framers intended. A radically revised law would better serve the political interests of all Americans--minority and white voters alike.

At this discussion of Voting Rights--and Wrongs, Thernstrom will be joined by Michael A. Carvin, a distinguished voting rights attorney, and New York University School of Law professor Richard H. Pildes, one of the nation's leading voting rights scholars. AEI's Henry Olsen will moderate.