Restoring the Voting Rights Act, 7 Years After Shelby

Today marks the seventh anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 5 to 4 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which gutted a core provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.The right of every eligible citizen to vote goes to the heart of our constitutional system of representative government. It is the basis upon which the people rule in our democracy and have the right and power to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions. The absence of the Voting Rights Act protections eliminated by the Supreme Court demands nationwide vigilance in the November elections to protect the votes of people of color against discrimination.

The Shelby County decision eliminated an essential provision of the Voting Rights Act that prevented racial discrimination by requiring certain states and localities with a history of racial discrimination to get advance “preclearance” from the Justice Department to make changes in their voting laws.

Justice Ginsburg in her dissent in Shelby County challenged Chief Justice Roberts’ view that the law was no longer needed to protect against racial discrimination in voting. Justice Ginsburg said that this was a determination that Congress, not the Supreme Court, should make and noted that just seven years before, in 2006, Congress reauthorized the law, with the House voting for the reauthorization by 390 to 33 and the Senate voting unanimously.

President George W. Bush in signing the reauthorization said the law was “an example of our continued commitment to a united America where every person is valued and treated with dignity and respect.”

Last December after extensive hearings that established racial discrimination in voting is still with us, the House passed H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, to restore voting rights protections that were eliminated by the Shelby decision. The bill, along with H.R. 1, the For the People Act, constitutes a package of historic democracy reforms enacted by the House last year.

In a floor speech during debate on H.R. 4, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that since the Shelby decision, at least 23 states enacted “voter suppression laws, including voter purges, strict ID requirements, poll closures, voter intimidation, denying millions their voice by their vote.”

As he has with innumerable House-passed bills, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked Senate consideration of these bills. Nevertheless, we are on the doorstep of enacting H.R. 4 and H.R. 1 in 2021.

If the polls hold where they are today and Democrats win the presidency and control of the House and Senate, Congress will restore the Voting Rights Act next year and enact the unprecedented package of democracy reforms contained in H.R. 1.

###