When the letter betrays the spirit : voting rights enforcement and African American participation from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama / Tyson D. King-Meadows.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-318) and index.

Introduction : congressional authority and voting rights enforcement -- Part I : A retrospective and prospective look at the Voting Rights Act -- Why discretion matters in voting rights enforcement -- Obama's inheritance : the Johnson framework, the VRA, and faith in federal power -- Part II. The challenge to congressional authority -- Misdirections : political theatre and the 2006 reauthorization of section 5 -- Partisan spoils of office : a post-Shaw judicial philosophy of civic literacy -- Is "Bull Connor" dead? Contemporary public opinion on voting rights policy -- A battle of principals : Congress, the DOJ, and the George W. Bush Administration -- The macro-political context shaping enfranchisement -- Conclusion : regulating discretion and the challenge of post-racial politics.

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When the Letter Betrays the Spirit examines the wide latitude provided to the executive branch and to the Supreme Court by the text of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Drawing from government enforcement data, legislative history, Supreme Court rulings, the 2006 reauthorization debate on the VRA, and from the 2007 scandal involving the firing of U.S. attorneys under the Bush Administration, the book examines when, why, and how executive and judicial discretion facilitates violation of voting rights. Connecting Johnson to Obama, the book outlines why the executive-centered model of voting rights.

English.

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