The Supreme Court Has Gutted The Voting Rights Act – Congress Must Rebuild It

The forces of Jim Crow never accepted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and with the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais they have finally succeeded in their six-decade terror campaign to burn it down. For the sake of our democracy, Congress must act to rebuild it as soon as possible. The VRA was a triumph for our country, a huge step towards safeguarding our basic right to have a say in how we’re governed – the dream of the American Revolution made real. Some of our greatest heroes fought and died for it, and some of our most shameful figures killed to stop it. But as Congress recognized in extending it five times between 1970 and 2006, it was not a final victory over the forces of racism and tyranny. They continued to chip away at every weak spot they could find in the fortress of our freedom until we shored them up. They have not gone away. Our vigilance in defending our democracy just neutralized them. Letting the Voting Rights Act remain gutted is abandoning our shield against them. Champions of our Constitution have longed pushed for a full restoration of the VRA via the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. We need it, and even further protections, now more than ever. Please publicly commit to supporting, co-sponsoring and fighting fiercely with every weapon in your political arsenal to bring such measures to the floor and pass them into law.