When the Letter Betrays the Spirit: Voting Rights Enforcement and African American Participation from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama

By Tyson King-Meadows

Book Overview

List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Congressional Authority and Voting Rights Enforcement
A Retrospective and Prospective Look at the Voting Rights Act
Chapter 1: Why Discretion Matters in Voting Rights Enforcement
Chapter 2: Obama's Inheritance: The Johnson Framework, the VRA, and Faith in Federal Power
The Challenge to Congressional Authority
Chapter 3: Misdirection: Political Theatre and the 2006 Reauthorization of Section 5
Chapter 4: Partisan Spoils of Office: A post-Shaw Judicial Philosophy of Civic Literacy
Chapter 5: Is "Bull Connor" Dead? Contemporary Public Opinion on Voting Rights Policy
Chapter 6: A Battle of Principals: Congress, the DOJ, and the George W. Bush Administration
A Systems Theory Approach to Enforcement
Chapter 7: The Macro-Political Context Shaping Enfranchisement, 2000-2008
Conclusion: Regulating Discretion and the Challenge of Post-Racial Politics
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Selected Bibliography

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073914913X
• ISBN13: 9780739149133
• Release Date: August 2011
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.6" x 9.0"