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Under the direction of President John Adams, the Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1798, which made it a criminal offence to publish statements critical of the federal government. The first individual to be tried under the law was Rep. Matthew Lyon, who unsurprisingly had voted against its passage. Lyon was re-elected from jail.
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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination in voting by protecting voting rights. It banned poll taxes and literacy tests and required states with historians of Jim Crow discrimination to seek advance clearance before changing and requiring states with histories of Jim Crow discrimination to obtain advance clearance to change laws governing voting.
