Patrick Leahy and Senate Dems Introduce Measure to Strengthen Voting Rights Act

Senate Democrats person introduced a measurement to fortify the Voting Rights Act.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 48 different senators. The authorities would update the Voting Rights Act to fortify sections antecedently affected by Shelby County v. Holder (2013) and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2013), Supreme Court decisions that weakened its cardinal provisions.

Shelby affected Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which empowered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to surface voting changes successful states with a past of radical discrimination. Brnovich upheld voting restrictions successful Arizona, weakening Section 2, which prohibits racially-targeted voting policies.

“Today, tens of thousands of Americans are being disenfranchised, nether the guise of authorities law,” Leahy said. “Make nary mistake: This tidal question of elector suppression efforts seeks to crook the arc of adjacent justness and adjacent rights backwards. This simply cannot stand.”

Leahy called the measurement the “culmination of galore months of tireless enactment crossed the halls of Congress – precisely what Congressman Lewis would person wanted to see.”