Today U.S. Congressman David Scott issued the following statement concerning a postponed vote to extend the Voting Rights Act:
“I am extremely disappointed with the move today by Republican leaders to hastily and shamefully deny a scheduled vote to consider reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, one of the most important pieces of legislation ever enacted by Congress. The Act along with its special provisions has proven tremendously successful at expanding and protecting the opportunity for participation in the political process for all Americans and is still very much needed. Members of both parties worked extensively to create sound legislation supported by both Democrats and Republicans.”
Congressman David Scott Leads Fight Against Westmoreland, Norwood Amendments
Congressman David Scott is strongly opposed to amendments being proposed by fellow Georgia Congressmen Lynn Westmoreland and Charlie Norwood.
Congressman Scott said, “Westmoreland’s amendment in effect kills the Voting Rights Act by reversing the current long-standing judicial requirement that jurisdictions bear the burden of establishing that they are freed from discrimination by instead placing that burden on the Attorney General. This results in Justice Department attorneys spending most of their time conducting investigations where discrimination no longer exists instead of enforcing the Act and protecting minority voters against existing discrimination.
Scott continued, “And the Norwood amendment would also effectively destroy the Voting Rights Act by changing the legal standard of the Act from one of discrimination against minority voters to a standard of voter turnout, thereby basically killing the Voting Rights Act. Because, we must remember, the Voting Rights Act was enacted to prevent discrimination and protect voting rights; and was not put in place to simply encourage voter turnout.”
Making the Law Permanent and Applicable Nationwide is a Trojan Horse
Congressman Scott also added, “We must not be fooled by calls to make the Voting Rights Act fully applicable nationwide and permanent for this is nothing more than a guise to effectively kill the Act. To make Section 5 ‘nationwide and permanent’ would make the Act unconstitutional because it would violate the Supreme Court’s stated requirement that the Voting Rights Act be ‘narrowly tailored and congruent and proportional to address the harms it is designed to cure,’ namely a history of discrimination against the voting rights of minority voters. That means the Act must be targeted to states and jurisdictions with a history of discrimination and subject to the Act’s renewal after required congressional hearings to establish a record for continued need for remedy.”
