Above: Rep. Jim McClendon appears on MSNBC to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act
Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, appeared on MSNBC’s “NewsNation” on Tuesday shortly following the announcement the Supreme Court had struck down Section 4 of Voting Rights Act, which effectively rendered the preclearance provisions in Section 5 meaningless.
McClendon told host Tamron Hall it was a “glorious day” for him and Alabama and pointed out Alabama had a clean track record with its districting over the past several years.
“Well, it certainly takes a burden over us — off of us that is totally outdated,” he said. ‘The threshold for being subject to being preclearance was set almost a half a century ago. And I’ll tell you right now, Alabama has changed. We’re a different state. We just went through redistricting for congressional districts, board of education, House and Senate districts, and the Department of Justice found no objection whatsoever. They found no sign of discrimination. And in fact, the Supreme Court has not rejected any statewide law in Alabama in over 16 years.”
Hall pointed to the Department of Justice’s action against the City of Calera in Shelby County back in 2009, which eliminated the city’s sole majority African-American district at the time. But McClendon explained that was a city, not the action of the state of Alabama.
“That was a city that was not the state — it was a city within the county. And it didn’t have anything to do with the way we run it at the state level. And that was straightened out. Now, listen, just because Section 4 has been put to the side that does not mean that someone cannot file a lawsuit if they feel discrimination is going on. I think the Supreme Court has recognized vast progress made in Alabama and in the other states — the other 15 states and cities that were subject to this. I personally am very proud of how far we, in Alabama, have come since those days back in the ’50s and ’60s.”
As far as how the other states beyond Alabama would handle the high court’s ruling, McClendon declined to comment.
“I really cannot speak for the other states. I know what’s going on in Alabama, since I was involved in redistricting intimately. I know how that has worked. So as far as what the other states are doing, I really do not know that.”
Related:
1. McClendon will primary Fielding in Senate District 11
What else is going on?
1. Flashback: Jo Bonner, Terry Everett voted against Voting Rights Act of 1965 renewal
2. Obama declares war
3. Sewell: Injustices suffered on Bloody Sunday in 1965 have ‘not been fully vindicated’
4. Sarah Palin coming back to Alabama
5. To D.C. & back again, will Wells Griffith run for Congress?
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