The Act removed a statute of limitations on discriminatory pay practices, setting the time limit to six months for every paycheck where the employee was discriminated against (and not 180 days from the date of the first paycheck).

FORBES: How To Lose Women In An Election

The bill deems discriminatory abortions to be violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for purposes of imposing penalties onto offenders, such as a loss of federal funding.

FORBES: America's Male Only Child Policy?

Johnson 47 years ago Monday, the Voting Rights Act empowered the federal government to oversee elections in states with racially discriminatory voting practices, and outlawed the use of literacy tests for all American voters.

CNN: U.S. voting rights under siege

Congress did extensive research before reauthorizing the act in 2006, and recent studies prove Section 5 works well in targeting places where discriminatory voter practices exist.

CNN: Challenge to Voting Rights Act ignores reality