Debating The Voting Rights Act
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. In other national news, two years after Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech during the March on Washington, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, forcing areas of the country with a history of racial discrimination to get approval or pre- clearance from the Justice Department or a federal court before making any changes to voting laws. But this morning, almost half a century after it was first passed, the Supreme Court struck down a key portion of the law. Chief Justice Roberts' position is that the world does not look the same as it did in 1965. According to Roberts, "Our country has changed. And while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions." Congress had overwhelmingly extended the Voting Rights Act as recently as 2006, for another 25 years. In a statement today, President Obama said he is deeply disappointed with the ruling, saying, quote, "Voting discrimination still exists and while today's decision is a setback, it does not represent the end of our efforts to end voting discrimination. And I'm calling on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls." But as Justice Roberts points out in his opinion, black voter turnout was higher than whites in last year's election, including in five out of the six states originally included in the Voting Rights Act. Joining me now is the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. He's founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. He was obviously at the "I Have A Dream" speech. Reverend Jackson, thanks for joining us. Reverend, Chief Justice Roberts writes in the opinion that, "Yes, voter discrimination still exists, but this section of the law particularly singling out states that have been under this rule since the '60s and '70s is outdated. What is your response?</s>JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: Well, it's not true. The fact of the matter is that we have more voter participation because of voter oversight. When oversight leaves, then the increases actually stop. We got the right to vote in 1965. It took us until 1990 to deal with the impact of gerrymandering, annexation at-large, roll purging. And I might add, Jake, it was not just for blacks. When the blacks could not vote, but white women could not sit on juries. There were no white women on the Supreme Court. Eighteen year olds who were serving in Vietnam could not vote. Students could not vote on college campus. They had to vote absentee or go home to vote. You could not vote bilingual. This was a whole democratizing of democracy. It's a 48-year journey that was stabbed in the heart today.</s>TAPPER: What do you say to those who say African-American vote, according to a Census study, was higher than the white vote last year? We have an African-American president. This is just a different world than in 1965 and these states and counties that were singled out for special scrutiny don't deserve the same scrutiny?</s>JACKSON: You know, in 1865, we had the right to vote, but the compromise of 1877, you removed the federal troops, you removed protection, by 1896, we were set back for another 58 years. So without federal oversight, it's like removing the troops in 18 -- 1877. These state legislatures like Alabama, like Louisiana, they tried last year to use redistricting and they tried to use voter suppression tactics and schemes to limit the voting and make voting more difficult. They now have full reign, for states rights has now replaced federal protection. That's very dangerous setback.</s>TAPPER: Your organization, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, says it will not stand idly by after the decision. What does that mean? What do you and other civil rights organizations that you speak to, what do you plan to do?</s>JACKSON: I think, first of all, the president has taken a very strong position today, because he knows that without the put -- protected right, would -- he would not have been president in the first place. He must use his power to convene the Congress and make a case to the nation, as Lyndon Johnson made a case to the nation, President Obama make a case to the nation of why we must stop any scheme that suppresses or limits voting access or the right to vote to vote and to win. The second thing, we must go back to the streets in great numbers and demand and create a broad-based public consensus bottom up. The right to vote is too precious. We bled too much. We've died too young and the price has been too great to now watch it stabbed in the heart by the Supreme Court today.</s>TAPPER: Before you go, Reverend, Nelson Mandela is in critical condition right now in South Africa, as you know. As somebody who knows him, as somebody who has fought for civil rights, what does Nelson Mandela mean to you?</s>JACKSON: Well, I talked with his grandson just yesterday. He is in very grave condition. There are prayers for him around the world. But he was the symbol of the force that brought down racist apartheid South Africa, with the help of those here in America and around the world. Now, a lot of us here</s>TAPPER: Reverend Jesse Jackson, thank you so much for your time. CNN will bring you live coverage of the Supreme Court decision tomorrow on same-sex marriage, that's tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Coming up on our political panel, so what's the fallout for the Supreme Court's decision? It could potentially all come down to Florida and those long voting lines we saw back in 2012. And coming up in our "Pop Lead," Kenny Chesney fans could be forgiven for thinking they had accidentally bought tickets to an ultimate fighting match after the country star's concert turned into an all-out brawl. Stay with us.