To the Editor:

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is being challenged by Shelby County, Ala. The U.S. Supreme Court will hand down a decision on this challenge in June. During oral arguments, Justice Antonin Scalia expressed the opinion that the purpose of the law was to “perpetuate racial entitlement.”

The remark reveals a disturbing level of bias by Justice Scalia. It was perpetuation of racial entitlement that made the law necessary. Poll taxes and various other impediments to voting kept access to the ballot box as an exclusive right of white voters.