How the Voting Rights Act, Newly Challenged, Has Long Been Under Attack

The Voting Rights Act, a landmark law that has for decades protected Black Americans from attempts to erode their political power, was dealt one of its most significant challenges this week when a federal appeals court moved to strike down a crucial part of the legislation.

But the ruling on Monday, which would block private citizens and civil rights groups from suing under a key provision of the law called Section 2, is just one of dozens of threats the law has faced: The Voting Rights Act has been under sustained legal and political assault since the day Lyndon B. Johnson signed it in 1965.

Beyond the country’s polarized racial politics, a large part of why the law has been such a magnet for legal challenges has to do with the nature of the American electoral system. With both parties angling for the smallest of edges, changes to voting rules and to the playing field of elections often end up in court.

“Because the law affects the jobs of actual politicians, it’s no surprise that it would be caught in the partisan cross hairs,” said Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at Stanford Law School. “And election litigation itself has increased markedly in the last two decades, so we shouldn’t be surprised if V.R.A. litigation and challenges to the V.R.A. have increased over that period as well.”

The ability of private citizens to bring legal challenges under Section 2 of the law has led to some of the biggest victories for voting rights supporters in past decades. And they continue to try to wield the law: On Monday, Black voters in North Carolina filed a lawsuit challenging new state legislative maps as a racial gerrymander in violation of Section 2.

The ruling on Monday is almost certain to be appealed to the Supreme Court, where many legal challenges to the Voting Rights Act have ended up. Here’s a look at a few of the most important ones.