1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812010403321

Autore

King-Meadows Tyson <1972->

Titolo

When the letter betrays the spirit : voting rights enforcement and African American participation from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama / / Tyson D. King-Meadows

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lanham, Md., : Lexington Books, 2011

ISBN

1-283-22452-6

9786613224521

0-7391-4914-8

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (374 p.)

Disciplina

342.73/072

Soggetti

African Americans - Suffrage - History

United States Politics and government 1945-1989

United States Politics and government 1989-

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : Congressional authority and voting rights enforcement -- pt. 1. A retrospective and prospective look at the Voting Rights Act: Why discretion matters in voting rights enforcement ; Obama's inheritance: the Johnson framework, the VRA, and faith in federal power -- pt. 2. The challenge to congressional authority: Misdirection : political theatre and the 2006 reauthorization of section 5 ; Partisan spoils of office : a post-Shaw judicial philosophy of civic literacy ; Is "Bull Connor" dead? : contemporary public opinion on voting rights policy ; A battle of principals : Congress, the DOJ, and the George W. Bush Administration -- pt. 3. A systems theory approach to enforcement: The macro-political context shaping enfranchisement, 2000-2008 ; Conclusion : regulating discretion and the challenge of post-racial politics.

Sommario/riassunto

Drawing from government data, legislative history, Supreme Court decisions, survey results, and the 2006 reauthorization debate, When the Letter Betrays the Spirit examines how executive and judicial discretion facilitates violations of the Voting Rights act. Connecting Johnson to Obama, the book challenges the executive-centered model



of leadership and proffers a Congress-centered approach to protecting voting rights. This approach would both satisfy the goals of the black civil rights movement and give fuller support to the Fifteenth Amendment.