Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark U.S. federal statute that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, during the height of the civil rights movement. Designed to enforce voting rights protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, it outlawed literacy tests and similar devices used to disenfranchise racial minorities. Its Section 5 preclearance requirement barred jurisdictions with a history of discrimination from changing voting rules without federal approval. The act has been substantially weakened by later Supreme Court rulings, including Shelby County v. Holder (2013).