1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I am writing as a constituent and a parent to express deep concern about the Supreme Court’s recent decisions weakening the Voting Rights Act and, more broadly, its increasing willingness to override Congress’s authority to protect democratic participation. At key moments in our history, Congress has not treated Supreme Court interpretations as the final word on constitutional meaning. Following the injustice of Dred Scott decision, Congress and the nation responded with the Reconstruction Amendments, fundamentally reshaping our constitutional order. Similarly, after the Court’s decision in City of Mobile v. Bolden, Congress passed the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act to reaffirm its commitment to protecting voters from discrimination. We are at another such moment. Congress has both the authority and the responsibility under the Reconstruction Amendments to define and enforce the guarantees of equal protection and voting rights. I urge you to take bold legislative action to: • Reaffirm Congress’s constitutional authority to protect voting rights through updated Voting Rights Act legislation • Establish clear, enforceable standards to end partisan gerrymandering, including consideration of proportional representation or other structural reforms • Address the outsized influence of money in politics by setting reasonable limits and increasing transparency • Use Congress’s constitutional powers to clarify the scope of judicial review and ensure that courts cannot unilaterally undermine duly enacted civil rights protections As Abraham Lincoln warned in his 1861 inaugural address, if “vital questions affecting the whole people” are irrevocably decided by the Supreme Court, then “the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.” That warning remains urgent today. We must not allow democratic governance to be eroded by inaction. Congress must assert its role as a co-equal branch of government and act decisively to protect the fundamental right to vote. I urge you to lead on this issue and support legislation that restores and strengthens the protections necessary for a functioning democracy.