Home narrowly passes voting rights modification invoice to strengthen civil rights – JURIST – Information

The US House of Representatives voted 219-212 on Tuesday to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (“the Amendment”) in an effort to change the Civil Rights Voting Act of 1965 (VRA) and strengthen a history of racial discrimination.

The change comes exactly one week later US Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Kristen Clarke, issued a 20-page statement calling on the House Judiciary Committee to “establish, enforce, revitalize and restore” the VRA.

In the statement, Clarke warned that voting rights are under pressure to an extent unseen since the civil rights era and called on Congress to use its full enforcement powers to restore the law now or risk “falling back into a nation, in which millions of citizens, especially citizens “are colored, have difficulty registering, casting their votes and choosing candidates of their choice …”

Clark also stressed the need to re-establish the VRA’s “preclearance” mechanism, which was largely established by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder was declared invalid in 2013. Preclearance would empower the Department of Justice (DOJ) to block a vote Amendment that failed to prove a jurisdiction has neither a discriminatory purpose nor a discriminatory effect.

This change relates directly to Clarke’s testimony by restoring the preliminary investigation and sets certain criteria for a plaintiff to win a “vote dilution” lawsuit. If a plaintiff meets the above criteria, the amendment requires a court to conduct an overall circumstantial review to determine whether there has been a violation of the VRA.

The entirety of factual analysis requires the court to examine the extent and history of discrimination in official elections in relation to a jurisdiction; the extent to which voting in elections is racially polarized; the extent to which electoral practices or procedures increase opportunities for discrimination; whether members of a protected class have been denied access to a candidate slating process; the extent to which members of a protected class bear the effects of discrimination in areas such as education, employment and health, thereby hindering their ability to participate effectively in the political process; whether political campaigns were characterized by racist appeals; and the extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to public office.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said of the change:

The House of Representatives took important action today by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and fulfilling its promise to the nation to restore and empower all Americans to vote. This is a critical piece of legislation that fills the void left by Shelby County’s disastrous decision, and it would be an essential tool to combat racial discrimination in voting. We are in the midst of a toxic attack on voting rights and democratic norms. Republican lawmakers across the country are using baseless lies about last year’s elections as an excuse to pass a whole new wave of election suppression laws unlike any we have seen since the Jim Crow era. It is clear that these Republicans fear that if everyone has an equal say they cannot win a fair election.

The passage of the amendment went completely across party lines, with all votes in favor from the Democrats and all against from the Republicans.

GOP Senate Chairman Mitch McConnell called the change “unnecessary” and warned it would give the DOJ and the federal government too much power over the states, while Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, welcomed the change’s passage.

The change would require the approval of at least 10 Republicans and all 50 Democrats to successfully pass the Senate.