The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Sept. 21, 2023
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
September 19th, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, restoring protections stripped from the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court, was notably reintroduced by a Black Congresswoman from Alabama.
Rep. Terri Sewell, whose own state recently defied a U.S. Supreme Court order to create a second majority-minority Black district, introduced the Act after the previous Congress failed to act on the bill in 2022.
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the preclearance requirements in the 1965 Voting Rights Act in its Shelby County v. Holder decision, ruling that states with a history of voter discrimination no longer needed to clear their proposed voting laws with the Justice Department.
The Brennan Center reports that since then, 29 states passed 94 restrictive voting laws, including at least 29 laws in states that were previously subject to preclearance requirements.
The John Lewis Act restores those “preclearance” requirements, and strengthens Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, allowing voters of color to bring court action to protect fair representation – Alabama’s refusal to create a second Black district as an example.
In the current Congress, the John Lewis Act and its companion Freedom to Vote Act have hurdles, but passage would take giant steps in restoring the freedom to vote for all Americans.
We have the text of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Office of Congresswoman Terri Sewell – Text HR 14, John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Democracy Docket – U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell Reintroduces the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Brennan Center for Justice – Fact Sheet for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
NAACP Legal Defense Fund – Why We Need the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Brennan Center for Justice – Voting Laws Roundup: February 2023
NPR – Restoring the Voting Rights Act is still on this Alabama Democrat’s agenda
Groups Taking Action:
Declaration for American Democracy, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, League of Women Voters US, Common Cause US, Public Citizen, and hundreds more groups.
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