Voting-Referees

Civil Rights Act of 1960: Voting Referees and Criminal Penalties Still Prove Inadequate Against Southern Resistance

| Importance: 6/10

President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, expanding on the 1957 Act by authorizing federal courts to appoint voting referees to register Black voters and imposing criminal penalties for obstruction of court orders. However, the law’s case-by-case approach and dependence on …

Dwight D. Eisenhower Congress Lyndon B. Johnson Southern Democrats Department of Justice voting-rights civil-rights federal-legislation voting-referees obstruction
Read more →