Put quite simply, if the Voting Rights Act is deemed unconstitutional, our democracy will be thrown half a century back into the past. Not literally, of course. But over the years, Congress has continued to find jurisdictions that qualify as discriminatory and has worked with those jurisdictions to make sure they're carrying out elections fairly. NPR provides a nice, short list of the kinds of things the law has prevented: "The Voting Rights Act in recent years has been used to block efforts that have included a photo ID law change in South Carolina, early voting curtailment in Florida, and, perhaps most significantly, Texas redistricting that federal officials found intentionally discriminatory."

What the Critics Are Saying

Critics will say that the Voting Rights Act blatantly violates states' rights and ought to be done away with. Furthermore, the original law was only supposed to be in place for five years, but extension after extension means that it will endure. Pending any Supreme Court intervention, the latest extension carries us through 2031. That's getting darned close to a century since 1965! Haven't we, as a nation, moved beyond the need to police racism at the polls? Lots of Southern states that have been targeted by the Voting Rights Act would say yes. Segregation is long gone, and we have a black president. We've actually gone from less than 1,500 black elected officials in 1965 to more than 10,500 today. And we have a black president!

Seriously, though, Southern states view being flagged by the Voting Rights Act as a scarlet letter of sorts, an unnecessary reminder of past mistakes, mistakes that have long been addressed. "Things have changed in the South," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision that did not determine whether or not the law was unconstitutional. "Voter turnout and registration rates now approach parity. Blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare. And minority candidates hold office at unprecedented levels." However, not everybody in the South agrees.

What the Proponents Are Saying

Some parts of the country still have discriminatory tendencies, plain and simple. And it's just minorities that are affected. Perhaps the most troubling examples come in the form of voter ID laws that stand to disenfranchise young people, poor people and old people, not to mention minorities. We saw last year how a number of states would like to put these sorts of restrictions in place, and courts prevented them from doing so, citing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Another issue that's been debated lately is lines at the poll. The Times likened long lines at voting stations to "a sort of poll tax" that rich people could afford to pay. (Most rich people aren't earning hourly wages.) Obama thought this issue was important enough to invite a 102-year-old woman who waited six hours to vote last year to the State of the Union address. Changes to early voting procedures also stand to disenfranchise certain groups.