Justice Department Civil Rights Chief Calls on Congress to Pass Voting Rights Bill

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U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke testifies before a House of Representatives judicial subcommittee on voting rights legislation, as the House prepares to push forward a major piece of the rights push vote of the Democrats.
His prepared opening statement focused on the provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. House Democrats are preparing to introduce legislation to revive the so-called “preclearance” regime of the VRA, which, prior to the 2013 ruling, required localities with a history of racial discrimination in voting to gain department or federal court approval for electoral process changes.

Since that 2013 Supreme Court ruling, Clarke said on Monday, according to his written testimony: “We have seen an upsurge in electoral law changes that make it more difficult for minority citizens to vote and that is before we even got there. faced with a series of ten-year redistribution where jurisdictions can draw new maps that have the effect of diluting or downgrading the voting power of minorities. “

His testimony called on Congress “to pass appropriate legislation that will restore and improve voting rights law, thereby strengthening the department’s ability to protect the right to vote in the 21st century and beyond.”

Legislation to restore the preclearance process – a bill known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – has been in the works for a long time. This bill is in addition to the For the People Act, which would establish nationwide ballot access mandates, such as extended postal voting and early voting, while requiring states to adopt independent redistribution commissions.

The For the People Act has passed the House, but is stuck in the Senate, while the John Lewis Bill is expected to be considered by the House later this month. Parts of the two bills are under consideration in Senate negotiations for a voting package that would win the support of West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. But even with his backing, an obstruction by Senate Republicans will prevent voting rights legislation from reaching President Joe Biden’s office. Manchin and other Democratic centrists have been reluctant to change the rules of filibuster.

Even in the face of legislative hurdles, the Biden administration has made voting rights a top priority. Clarke, who began her legal practice as a career lawyer in the DOJ polling division, is one of three lawyers with extensive voting rights experience Biden has appointed to key DOJ positions.

Clarke, in her testimony, emphasized the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act when the preclearance regime was fully functional. Under it, 3,000 voting changes were blocked for their intent or discriminatory effect between 1965 and 2013, according to his written testimony. Yet, Clarke said, this represented only one percent of all changes envisioned by the ministry, and jurisdictions were otherwise able “to institute new changes or voting rules without interference.”

She reiterated what Attorney General Merrick Garland alluded to in a recent Washington Post editorial: If the Justice Department has the power to challenge individual laws that threaten voting rights – the DOJ sued the state of Georgia this summer – the challenges are not adequate on a case-by-case basis, as litigation is complex, requires vast resources and takes too long to correct inequalities quickly enough.

His testimony also touched on what the absence of a preclearance regime means for the next round of redistribution, which will be the first round of redistribution since the 2013 Supreme Court ruling.

“Without preclearance, the department will not have access to maps and other information related to the redistribution of many jurisdictions where there is cause for concern,” she said.

Lauren Fox of CNN contributed to this report.

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