FairVote’s David Daley publishes new book on voting rights and the Supreme Court
Antidemocratic, a new book by FairVote Senior Fellow David Daley, is out today! Antidemocratic follows the weakening of the Voting Rights Act through Supreme Court decisions like Shelby County vs. Holder. The book has already attracted significant media attention, including an excerpt published in the Boston Globe:
The ultimate test of what might be called the antidemocratic judiciary is the simple survival of a Republic where the majority of Americans have the ability to vote out leaders they no longer wish to have in high office. It is the establishment of an American minority rule.
Daley is an expert on gerrymandering and voting rights, and regularly writes about how reforms like proportional ranked choice voting and the Fair Representation Act would mitigate gerrymandering and empower minority voters. He noted that:
FairVote’s passion is fair representation, and ensuring that every American casts votes in meaningful elections, and that all of our voices are heard equally. That’s the same animating spirit behind my new book, Antidemocratic. Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugural, said that the ‘candid citizen must confess’ that if the law and our rights were ‘irrevocably fixed’ by the Supreme Court, ‘the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.’ No nine people in a democracy should hold such power, unelected and for life.
The book explores a five-decade history of decisions on the Voting Rights Act, redistricting and more that have concentrated more power in the hands of the court, less with the people, and pushed our elections to be more expensive and less competitive. It begins with the belief that the Reconstruction amendments and the Voting Rights Act are the beating heart that drives America’s highest ideals, and that the judicial erosion of those amendments and the steady shrinking of the VRA does damage to the dream of a more perfect union, with liberty and justice for all.
The Voting Rights Act has a long history of bipartisan support, and was reauthorized by Congress on five occasions between its initial passage in 1965 and 2006. The 2006 reauthorization even passed the Senate with unanimous support. With it’s 59th anniversary happening today, now is the perfect time to learn about its importance and the ongoing threat to its protections.
Antidemocratic is Daley’s third book, following Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count and Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy. Order your copy of Antidemocratic today!
