Journalist Ari Berman says both the Supreme Court and the lower courts are working to dismantle the 1965 law that's considered one of the most effective pieces of civil rights legislation ever enacted in the U.S. "It's precisely because it worked and because it worked so well that there has been such a dedicated effort for 50 plus years to try to weaken and nullify it," Berman says. Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews two mysteries: Alexis Soloski's Here in the Dark and The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
On the Ted radio hour, linguist Ann Curzan says she gets a lot of complaints about people using the pronoun they to refer to one person.
I sometimes get into arguments with people.
Where they will say to me, but.
It can't be singular.
And I will say, but it is.
The history behind words causing a lot of debate.
That's on the Ted radio hour from NPR.
This is FRESH AIR.
I'm Tanya Moseley.
We'll soon be entering another presidential election season, and some courts are laser focused on dismantling the Voting Rights act with.
The sharpest undercut handed down just before.
Thanksgiving, a federal appeals court issued a ruling that would prevent private citizens and civil rights groups from filing lawsuits that enforce the Voting Rights act.
It basically establishes that all lawsuits must be brought by the Justice Department.
Passed in 1965, the Voting Rights act has been seen as one of the most significant achievements of the civil rights movement, decades of discriminatory Jim Crow laws and aim to protect against racial gerrymandering.
But for decades, really since its inception, the Voting Rights act has also been.
Under legal assault, with court decisions hollowing.
Out key provisions of the act.
Here to talk about the history and what's at stake with the latest action is Ari Berman, a national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones.
He's the author of give us the.
The modern struggle for Voting rights in America.