Debo Adegbile lends his voice in a New York Times Op-Doc entitled "Supreme Court v. the American Voter," part of a series of documentaries produced by the New York Times designed to present a unique point of view via a creative and engaging medium. The documentary discusses the history and impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965—thought by many to be the nation's most important piece of civil rights legislation—and where the country currently stands on the issue of preventing discrimination at the polls.
Mr. Adegbile, currently a partner at WilmerHale, is former senior counsel to the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). In February 2013, while serving as LDF's acting president and director counsel, he argued before the US Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder (2013)—a case concerning Congress's 2006 re-authorization of the core Section 5 provision of the Voting Rights Act under the pre-existing coverage formula of Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, and whether Congress exceeded its authority under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. This was Mr. Adegbile's second argument before the Supreme Court. Previously, he defended the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder.
The Op-Doc is available for viewing in full: "Supreme Court v. the American Voter."
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