Wertheimer Statement on the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is one of the most important documents in American history. It stripped away the artificial barriers erected to prevent African Americans and other people of color from exercising their sacred right to vote.
The right to vote is at the heart of our system of representative government and ingrains in our democracy the fundamental principle that “Here the people rule.”
As we celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we should think of the American heroes who paved the way for this historic step toward greater racial justice and equality. In particular, we should think on this day of the late Representative John Lewis, a true American icon and hero for the ages.
The story of John Lewis’s courage, tenacity, integrity, strength of character, persistence, and lifelong devotion to ensuring the vote for all Americans is a story that will be told for generations to come. His guiding principle that we should never give up and never give in is a lesson for all who pursue change.
From 1965 to its reauthorization in 2006, the Voting Rights Act was the embodiment of bipartisanship. The House passed the bill in 2006 by 390-to-33. The Senate passed the bill 98-to-0. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law.
The Supreme Court’s shameful 5-4 decision in 2013 in Shelby County v. Holder, however, gutted core provisions of the Voting Rights Act. In the wake of that decision, the previous overwhelming bipartisan support for the Act is now caught up in the same partisan divisions that pervade many other issues in Congress.
Last December, the House passed H.R. 4 to restore and revitalize the Voting Rights Act, without Republican support. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked the Senate from voting on the legislation, and his obstructionist tactics must and will be overcome, if not in this Congress then in the Congress to follow in 2021.
Senator McConnell will not be allowed to stand in the Senate door to block racial justice any more than Governor George Wallace was allowed to stand in the schoolhouse door to block racial progress in 1963.
In the words of John Lewis, advocates will never give up and never give in until the Voting Rights Advancement Act is the law of the land.
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