Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Longshot bid to revive Voting Rights Act takes first step in Congress

Voting Rights Act

President Lyndon B. Johnson hands a pen to Martin Luther King Jr. used in the signing of the original Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Washington Bureau/Getty Images

Changes in election procedures suspected of fostering discrimination could be stopped before they're imposed on parts of the country with histories of racial discrimination, under legislation that started through Congress on Wednesday.

The party-line vote endorsing the bill in the House Judiciary Committee marked a hugely symbolic, if probably short lived, victory for advocates of enhancing the political rights and powers of minorities. It was the first formal action by Congress in the six years since the Supreme Court struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, effectively permitting a new wave of restrictions on voting in states with histories of racial bias in conducting elections.

The legislation has 225 co-sponsors, all of them Democrats, meaning it should be guaranteed to win passage by the Democratic-majority House. That vote has not been scheduled, but once it happens there seems to be little hope for the measure to even be considered in the Republican-controlled Senate.


The committee vote was 19-6. All those in favor were Democrats and those opposed where the minority of panel Republicans who stayed in the room for the roll call.

The bill is important because it would reverse the court's 2013 ruling preventing almost all applications of the so-called preclearance requirement in the Voting Rights Act, widely hailed as one of the most important civil rights laws in American history. Preclearance is a mandate that any proposed changes in district boundaries, registration requirements, poll closing times or any other voting procedures in areas with histories of discrimination be approved by the Justice Department or a federal court.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The court ruled 5-4 that the evidence being used to decide which areas — mostly in the South — were covered by preclearance was significantly out of date, and therefore unconstitutional and no longer valid. Before now, Congress has never come close to developing new standards.

The legislation says a state would be subject to preclearance if there were 15 or more voting rights violations in the last 25 years or 10 or more voting rights violations in the last quarter century when one of those was committed by the state itself.

Under that formula, 11 states including the four most populous — California, Texas, Florida and New York, plus Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia -- would be subject to preclearance, according to an analysis by Facing South, a media platform for the Institute of Southern Studies.


Made with Flourish


An individual political subdivision, such as a county, would be required to preclear changes if three or more violations occurred there in the last 25 years.

Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, said the court's ruling had "unleashed a deluge of voter suppression laws" across the country, including:

  • Excessively strict voter ID laws.
  • Purging of voter registration rolls.
  • Reducing early voting times and locations.
  • Closing or moving polling places.

The committee held a series of hearings to document the ongoing violations, creating a record that may be needed in order for the new law to survive a legal challenge.

At one of those hearings, the Leadership Conference Education Fund reported that nearly 1,700 polling places have been closed in counties that had once been covered by preclearance.

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary subcommittee overseeing civil rights policy, repeated the argument he has made at previous hearings: Too often claims of voting discrimination are based on disparate outcomes of new laws, not discriminatory treatment or intent.

Johnson said the legislation would interfere with state and local officials' control over voting rules even when no evidence of discrimination had been found.

Republican James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who sponsored the 2006 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, said he opposed the new bill because it was not the result of bipartisan negotiation. Still, he said he thinks the court's ruling is wrong.

His reauthorization legislation passed the House 380-33 and 98-0 in the Senate.

"It is a poison pill. It will never become law," Sensenbrenner said of the new bill. He said Democrats had to "decide whether you want an issue or a law."

Republican Steve Chabot of Ohio also opposed the legislation, which he said was simply a "messaging bill" by Democrats.

Advocates of reinstating preclearance argue that without it, they are left to file lawsuits challenging laws they consider discriminatory after they are already in place. Those lawsuits are costly and take a long time to decide.

For example, a 2016 federal appeals court ruling in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (among others) struck down as discriminatory a North Carolina law that required voters to have an ID, removed a week of early voting and ended same-day voter registration, among other provisions.

The case took 34 months and cost nearly $6 million, and the 2014 election was held under rules that the court later said discriminated against black voters.

In another example, the Brennan Center for Justice determined that from 2014 through 2016, after the court ruling, about 16 million names were removed from voting rolls. That was 4 million, or one-third, more than struck from the rolls from 2006 to 2008. Many of those purged were in areas previously covered by preclearance.

Read More

Trump to the Nation: "We're Just Getting Started"

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump is speaking about the early achievements of his presidency and his upcoming legislative agenda.

(Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)

Trump to the Nation: "We're Just Getting Started"

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress, emphasizing that his administration is “just getting started” in the wake of a contentious beginning to his second term. Significant themes, including substantial cuts to the federal workforce, shifts in traditional American alliances, and the impact of an escalating trade war on markets, characterized his address.

In his speech, Trump highlighted his actions over the past six weeks, claiming to have signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken over 400 executive actions to restore “common sense, safety, optimism, and wealth” across the country. He articulated that the electorate entrusted him with the leadership role and stressed that he was fulfilling that mandate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump’s Tariffs: a burden on workers, a boon for the wealthy

An illustration of a deconstructed dollar bill.

Getty Images, rob dobi

Trump’s Tariffs: a burden on workers, a boon for the wealthy

Earlier this year, President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, claiming they would fix trade imbalances and protect jobs. However, instead of helping American workers, these tariffs act as hidden taxes; they drive up costs and feed inflation. While average Americans bear the brunt of higher prices and lost jobs, the wealthy are insulated from the worst effects.

Many economists assert that tariffs are stealth taxes, that is, the burden is not distributed equally—while corporations may adjust by diversifying suppliers or passing costs along, working households cannot escape higher prices on essential goods like groceries and electronics. Analysts estimate these tariffs could add $1,250 to the annual cost of living for the average American household—a substantial burden for families already struggling with inflation. Additionally, according to the well-regarded Tax Foundation, the tariffs are projected to reduce GDP by 0.5% and result in the loss of approximately 292,000 jobs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Veterans diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases should apply for compensation

An individual applying for a program online.

Getty Images, Inti St Clair

Veterans diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases should apply for compensation

In 1922, the U.S. Navy identified asbestos as the most efficient material for shipbuilding insulation and equipment production due to its heat resistance and durability. The naturally occurring asbestos mineral was also the most abundant and cost-effective material on the market. During the difficult WWII years, asbestos became critical to the U.S. Military, especially for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force: shipping and shipbuilding were essential, and parts of the military aircraft and incendiary bombs also contained asbestos.

Even as demand exceeded supply, in 1942, a presidential order banned the use of asbestos for non-military purposes until 1945. The application of asbestos-based material by the Military continued to increase until the 1970s when its carcinogenic nature came to light, and the use of asbestos started to be regulated but not banned.

Keep ReadingShow less
S.E. Cupp: Where is the Democratic Party’s Ronald Reagan?

President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump arrive for the inauguration ceremony in the U.S. Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025.

Getty Images/TCA, Melina Mara/POOL/AFP

S.E. Cupp: Where is the Democratic Party’s Ronald Reagan?

With all the attention deservedly on President Trump and what he intends to do with his defiant return to the White House, there’s a more than good chance we’ll spend the next four years consumed once again by all things Trump.

There’s already been a dizzying amount: a giant raft of executive orders; attacks on a constitutional amendment; his threats to invade sovereign nations; a seeming Nazi salute from one of his biggest surrogates; his sweeping Jan. 6 pardons; his beef with a bishop; his TikTok flip-flop; his billion-dollar meme coin controversy; scathing new allegations against one of his Cabinet picks; unilaterally renaming a body of water; a federal crackdown on DEI; promises of immigration raids across major cities. All this in just the first three days of Trump’s second term.

Keep ReadingShow less