On June 25, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice would sue the state of Georgia on the basis that the state’s bill, SB 202, violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Pundits and politicians of all political persuasions had strong reactions to the lawsuit. What follows is an analysis of what the legal challenge involves and its potential implications.
What is SB 202?
SB 202 originated in the Georgia legislature in early 2021. In the aftermath of former President Donald Trump’s concerns over alleged election irregularities and the swarm of litigation over different voting policies such as mail-in voting and early voting, Georgia Republicans felt that new laws were needed to fix what they saw as problems with the 2020 election. SB 202 passed both state chambers at the end of March.
Read Full Article »