On Thursday, the House passed an omnibus voting rights bill that included the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, an effort to restore and revitalize the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). The bill is now before the Senate, where despite bipartisan support it faces an uncertain future due to the filibuster.
The VRA was the most successful civil rights legislation in our country’s history until the Supreme Court gutted the law in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013. The Court further weakened the law’s protections against voting discrimination in another case in 2022 in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee.
Now, we are in the midst of a crisis. The nation faces a wave of voting restrictions and redistricting abuses, both of which often target communities of color. We need a full-strength Voting Rights Act to prevent this suppression from happening and root it out quickly where it does.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the law to full strength, in part by once again requiring states with histories of voter discrimination to receive approval from the Department of Justice or a federal court before enacting voting changes. Nonetheless, Republicans in Congress and their allies in the states oppose it. These opponents have now made their case in several congressional hearings, including an October 6, 2021, hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
They do not — and cannot — offer reasoned explanations for why the law’s protections are...
By JAMELLE BOUIE Donald Trump knew as well as anyone that he had lost the 2020 presidential election fair and square. He knew there was no conspiracy to commit voter fraud — no mysterious mail bal...