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A28 u.s. news
Diamars 13 Juli 2021

Democrats craft voting bill with eye on Supreme Court fight

(AP) — As congressional targeted states and localities
Democrats gear up for with low minority turnout
another bruising legisla- and a history of using hurdles
tive push to expand vot- such as literacy tests and poll
ing rights, much of their taxes to disenfranchise mi-
attention has quietly fo- nority voters.
cused on a small yet cru-
cial voting bloc with the Such barriers are no longer
power to scuttle their used, and Republicans point
plans: the nine Supreme to a swell of minority turnout
Court justices. in the last election as proof
that many conservative-lean-
Democrats face dim pros- ing states, particularly in the
pects for passing voting leg- South, should not be subject-
islation through a narrowly ed to preclearance.
divided Congress, where an
issue that once drew compro- They also point blame at
mise has become an increas- Democrats, who in 2019 re-
ingly partisan flashpoint. But jected a bipartisan bill to re-
as they look to reinstate key establish preclearance. Many
parts of the Voting Rights Democrats instead favored
Act of 1965, a landmark civil their own measure, which
rights-era law diminished could withstand a court chal- which upheld two restrictive crat who serves on a commit- would have eschewed the
over the past decade by Su- lenge. Senate Majority Lead- Arizona laws and will limit tee that has held many of the use of minority voter turn-
preme Court rulings, they er Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the ability to challenge voting hearings. out data, a pillar of the origi-
have accepted the reality that said Friday that the process restrictions in court. nal Voting Rights Act, while
any bill they pass probably will document what he called Yet serious questions remain leaning heavily on looser
will wind up in litigation — “the disgraceful tactics that “We cannot wait until Octo- about whether the Supreme standards, such as using the
and ultimately back before Republican-led state legis- ber or November,” said Rep. Court, which has a new and number of legal settlements
the high court. latures are using across the Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Demo- expanded conservative ma- and consent decrees issued
country to keep people from crat who chairs the Congres- jority, would still be receptive in voting rights cases, to pull
The task of building a more voting.” sional Black Caucus. to a new preclearance for- places into preclearance.
durable Voting Rights Act got mula.
harder when the high court’s That’s criticism that Repub- While the specifics of the That would, Republicans ar-
conservative majority on July licans reject, arguing that the legislation have not yet been There’s also been a major gue, play into the hands of
1 issued its second major rul- courts and Democratic ad- released, it would develop a shift in the Republican Party. Democrats, who have built a
ing in eight years narrowing ministrations have selectively new formula for determining sophisticated and well-fund-
the law’s once robust power. enforced the law in the past. which states and local gov- The Voting Rights Act en- ed legal effort to challenge
ernments would be subject joyed bipartisan support in voting rules in conservative-
“What it feels like is a shifting “It’s not a coincidence that to a review process known Congress for decades. It was leaning states.
of the goal posts,” said Da- a decade of court cases were as “preclearance.” The court reauthorized five times with
mon Hewitt, the president only focused on Republican blocked the practice in 2013, commanding majorities, the “It shunned objective data,”
and executive director of the states,” said Rep. Rodney reasoning that the formula most recent in 2006. But the said Jason Snead, executive
left-leaning Lawyers’ Com- Davis, an Illinois Republican used to determine which bipartisan support eroded director of the conservative
mittee for Civil Rights Un- who sits on a committee that places are subjected to it was dramatically after the court’s Honest Elections Project.
der Law. conducted the field hearings. outdated and unfairly puni- first ruling, in 2013, in the “They want to target Geor-
tive. But the court also ruled case of Shelby County, Ala- gia and Texas and Florida.
Sparring in Congress for Pressure has built for months that Congress could develop bama, v. Holder. But when you actually look
months has focused on a dif- on congressional Democrats a new formula. at turnout data, it’s Mas-
ferent Democratic bill over- to counteract a concerted “If you look at the sea change sachusetts that has half the
hauling elections, known as state-level Republican push Though laws and rules al- in the politics, it all stems Black turnout rate that Geor-
the For the People Act, which to enact new voting restric- ready in place wouldn’t be from Shelby and the political gia does. That’s why you get
Republican senators blocked tions, inspired by President subject to a retooled Vot- opportunity that it offers,” these games being played.”
from debate on the cham- Donald Trump’s false claims ing Rights Act, future ones Hewitt said.
ber’s floor last month. of a stolen 2020 election. would. Regardless, Democrats have
But there is a new sense of Republicans say vast strides a difficult climb to enacting
Separately, however, Demo- urgency among many in the “We want to get our work have been made in ballot ac- their new bill under current
crats have held a marathon party’s activist base following done, but it has to be data-fo- cess since the civil rights era, Senate filibuster rules, which
series of low-key “field hear- the Supreme Court ruling in cused and defensible within which is when the law’s pre- require 60 votes to advance
ings” to prepare for votes on the case of Brnovich v. Dem- the courts,” said Rep. Pete clearance formula was first legislation in a chamber that
a second measure, the John ocratic National Committee, Aguilar, a California Demo- established. The initial law is split 50-50 between Re-
Lewis Voting Rights Ad- publicans and Democrats.
vancement Act, which could
come to the House floor for Senate Minority Leader
a vote in September. The Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has
bill would allow courts and made clear his opposition. He
the Department of Justice to said last month that Demo-
once again police changes to crats were aiming to achieve
voting rules in places with a through the John Lewis Vot-
history of electoral discrimi- ing Rights Advancement Act
nation against minorities, a what they couldn’t through
practice the Supreme Court their other elections bill, the
put on hold in 2013. For the People Act.

Democrats hope the hear- “It’s against the law to dis-
ings they have conducted criminate in voting on the
with little fanfare will help basis of race already,” he said.
build a legislative record that “It is unnecessary.”