Washington CNN —
New state laws make voting more difficult for minorities and the Justice Department has done less to challenge those discriminatory laws since the Supreme Court struck down a core element of the 1965 Voting Rights Act five years ago, the federal Commission on Civil Rights said in a report issued Wednesday.
The report was a scathing condemnation of state and federal actions since the Supreme Court, in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, eliminated the Justice Department’s authority to block changes to voting laws in states with histories of discrimination.
It highlighted laws approved by Republican-dominated legislatures in Texas, which imposed the nation’s strictest voter ID requirement, and North Carolina, which implemented a voter ID law that also eliminated registration options and limited early voting, as particularly glaring examples that disproportionately affect minorities.
The commission issued a series of recommendations, including calling on Congress to enact a law that would “provide a streamlined remedy to review certain changes with known risks of discrimination before they take effect – not after potentially tainted elections.”
