Fifty years ago this week President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law: "Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that’s ever been won on any battle field," he said.
This morning historian Taylor Branch and legal scholar F. Michael Higginbotham join Tom Hall for a discussion about that most fundamental dimension of democracy: voting. They’ll talk about the resonance of this landmark legislation a half century on and the status of voting rights as the 2016 presidential race picks up steam.
Plus: Two Tilghman Island watermen are serving time for their role in a scheme to poach a half-million-dollars’ worth of striped bass from the Chesapeake Bay. We talk with a journalist covering the case for the Baltimore Sun.