VRA Amendments and Shelby v. Holder

Starter 11:  John Oliver on North Carolina’s voting rights decision from 8/1/16.  Warning! Strong language here.  Earmuffs may be needed if you are sensitive to occasional f-bombs.  After watching the video clip, answer the following questions:

1. What were the major provisions of North Carolina’s voter registration restrictions that the Supreme Court recently struck down?
   
2. Do you think that individual states should have the right to decide their own voting policies? Should this be a federal issue?
   
3. Do you think that this type of media contributes to naive cynicism? Explain.

VRA Amendments (expert groups)
Each of you is going to be assigned one amendment (there are 5 total).  In your expert group, read the summary of that amendment provided by Lori.
In your group, you need to make sure that you are an expert (you will have to teach other students about this!).  EACH person in the group needs to make a small poster that includes the following:

1. Title (year of the amendment)
   
2. What did this do to the special provisions?
   
3. How did this amendment expand coverage?
   
4. What new provisions (if any) did this amendment add?
   

For each of the points above, you should have a small and simple illustration that represents the main point of that piece of the amendment.  Make it pretty!  Make it clear!?  Make sure you understand and can explain these things clearly to other students!

VRA Amendments Jigsaw

1. Get in a group that has one student from every amendment.
2. Put the posters together in chronological order
   Each student presents their amendments
   Now, as a group, identify at least 3 major patterns or trends that you see in these amendments.  How did they make the Act different from the original?  Summarize in your notes.
   

Shelby v. Holder Intro:  Political Cartoon
Based on this cartoon, work with your group to write down as many inferences as you can about the Supreme Court case Shelby v Holder.  Think carefully about what different elements of the cartoon are telling you!
Debrief, get predictions on the board.
Shelby v. Holder:  The Basics

1. Read these two  summaries of Shelby v. Holder:  Scotus Blog and Civilrights.org
   
2. After reading the summaries, put in your notes:  How accurate were your predictions?  What sections of the VRA did this Supreme Court decision leave intact?  What sections were declared unconstitutional?
   

Shelby v. Holder:  The Actual Arguments (rest of class)
Okay, now it’s time to dig into the actual arguments put forth by the Supreme Court.  What was the reasoning of the majority?  And why did the minority dissent?
Here’s your main resource:  NY Times guide to the VRA Opinion

Here are your tasks:

1. I will assign you a position:  majority or minority opinion
   
2. For whichever opinion you are assigned, read that section (Majority:  Opinion of the Court and Concurring Opinion, Minority: Dissenting Opinion)
   
3. Summarize the main arguments put forth in support of or against the decision (this can be a bullet pointed list)
   
4. Write the most powerful quote from the justice’s opinion, and explain what it means, and why it is powerful
   
   HOMEWORK:  Finish Shelby v. Holder Argument summary and quote analysis.  DUE:  Start of Class, Thursday.