By The Editors
Friday, March 5, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) marked the 45th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma in the spirit the marchers of that day would have appreciated—by working with the citizens of Selma and other communities to ensure the voting rights won that day remain secure.

By The Editors
John Payton, speaking at one of the nation’s most historic black institutions of higher learning, takes on the challenging question – and assertion – President Obama’s election has inevitably raised: Does that mean the United States of America has become a “post-racial” society?

By Desiree Cooper
With many states considering closing their prisons in order to balance their budgets, it’s time to ratchet up the national conversation about what to do with a growing number of ex-felons, especially those who are sincerely trying to re-integrate into society

By The Editors
The effort of the Obama administration to restore the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division as an agent of the nation’s civil rights laws has apparently shifted into high gear.

By Elliot Morrison
“Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield.”

President Lyndon Baines Johnson spoke those words on a sweltering August 6th in the Capitol Rotunda forty-four years ago, prior to signing one of the most momentous legislative acts in all of American history: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Johnson declared that the Act’s purpose was to guarantee a right “which no American, true to our principles, can deny.”

By Stacey Patton
Last week’s Supreme Court ruling, which denies prisoners the constitutional right to post-conviction DNA testing that could prove their innocence, says something bigger about the quality of justice in America.

By The Editors
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by seven other Justices, the Court declared that “the historic accomplishments of the Voting Rights Act are undeniable.”

By The Editors
The continued need for the Department of Justice or federal courts to approve new voting rules and procedures of certain states and jurisdictions before they are implemented – under the so-called pre-clearance clause of the Voting Rights Act – continues to spark sharp debate.

By John Payton
There is no dispute as to the effectiveness of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act on our democracy.

Nevertheless, some argue today that we should move “beyond” the need for Section 5 because of the election of President Obama. They could not be more wrong. Section 5 has been and remains a vital checkpoint against those who would deliberately or inadvertently deny access to the ballot for duly registered voters.

By Mel Gagarin
Yesterday the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a brief, along with several other public-interest law firms and nonprofit foundations, in what is shaping up to be the most important voting rights case to come before the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years.