The Role of William Wrenquist and John Roberts in Voting Rights

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Witnesses testified that Wrenquist allegedly conducted literacy tests for black and Latino voters to suppress their voting rights.
Wrenquist denied participating in such activities.
Operation Eagle Eye involved voter intimidation and harassment, which Congress attempted to address with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Wrenquist consistently opposed voting rights during his time on the Supreme Court.
John Roberts, Wrenquist's successor, played a significant role in undermining the Voting Rights Act.
Roberts authored a decision in 2013 that is considered a substantial setback for voting rights.

Republicans claim the election was stolen. They use those claims to justify suppressing people’s right to vote. All of it happening amid a national reckoning on race. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson tell the story of a time uncannily similar to our own – in the early 1960s. And how it’s both a parallel to our present moment and the origin of conflicts playing out today.

Featuring Guests:

Rick Perlstein, historian, author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus

Sherrilyn Ifill, Vernon Jordan Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University and former President and Director-Counsel of LDF.

Jim Brosnahan, lawyer and author of Justice At Trial: Courtroom Battles and Groundbreaking Cases