Victory By Surrender: The Voting Rights Amendments of 1982 and The Civil Rights Act of 1991

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Voting Rights Amendments of 1982 stand as the two most significant pieces of civil rights legislation of the past ten years. Like their predecessors, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they are cornerstones of the movement to achieve equality through the law. In an era when increasing numbers of strategists and academics have encouraged civil rights advocates to take their cause to legislatures, not courts, these laws represent the triumph of political savvy and popular sovereignty. By passing these laws, the people's representatives have overturned a number of restrictive Supreme Court rulings that narrowed the scope of voting rights and employment discrimination law.