December 5, 2005

Reid Calls on Justice Department to Protect Voting Rights, Not Republican Majorities

Washington, DC – Today, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid released the following statement:

“The Bush Administration’s pattern of politicizing critical voting rights decisions is deeply disturbing. In two cases, we now know that Bush Administration political appointees at the Department of Justice disregarded the nearly unanimous advice of career staff that Tom Delay’s Texas redistricting scheme and Georgia Republicans’ newly devised poll tax violated the landmark Voting Rights Act. In the case of the Georgia law, federal courts agreed with Justice’s career lawyers and overturned Georgia’s thinly veiled photo identification requirement because it would suppress minority voting. Our nation can ill-afford a culture of corruption and patronage. The Department of Justice’s role in voting decisions is to protect the right to vote of all Americans, not to protect Republican majorities by ignoring the clear mandates of the Voting Rights Act.”

###

« Back to Press Releases