A Senate filibuster in January 2022 caused efforts toward passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to come to a screeching halt last month. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act was renamed and combined with another bill in the Senate and introduced to restore key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Senate filibuster prevented passage in the Senate, which bill if signed into law would strengthen voting rights protections for all voters, regardless of color or economic class.
The bill was originally introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) on February 26, 2019, as H.R. 4. The bill was initially called the “Voting Rights Advancement Act.” It was a legislative response to the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v Holder decision. The Shelby County v Holder decision invalidated key parts of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, essentially gutting the Voting Rights Act. The 1965 Voting Rights Act eliminated political maneuvers making it difficult for Black Americans to vote.
John Lewis presided over the Democratic controlled House in 2020.Senators introduced legislation July 22, 2020 to restore the Voting Rights Act after it had its Federal oversight removed by the Supreme Court in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would require that any state with a history of voting discrimination within the past 25 years to seek federal approval before making any changes to its voting procedures. Additionally, it would require that any state regardless of its history, obtain clearance from the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington, DC, before making any changes that would tend to burden voters of color, such as reducing the numbers of polling places in areas with large numbers of minority voters.
The US Senate has 100 seats, and the Vice-President has the authority to vote in the case of a tie. A vote to pass a bill in the Senate by a majority of Senators would be 51. Although this voting rights bill had majority support in the Senate in January 2022, the filibuster, whose procedural rules have been changed over 150 times, currently requires a super-majority to change the rules of the filibuster. The Senate’s January filibuster prevented the Senate’s ability to pass this voting rights legislation. This amounts to control by a minority, unfortunately for the rights of all voters. However, proponents of civil rights and voting rights, have not given up, and it is unlikely this will be the end of this story.
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