The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
December 10, 2021 -
In its first lawsuit to come out of the latest round of redistricting, the U.S. Department of Justice has taken aim at Texas, arguing that the GOP legislature's new election district maps violate the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against voters by race or color. We look at some of the numbers cited in the lawsuit, which faces an uphill fight in the new legal landscape created by the Supreme Court's 2013 decision gutting the landmark civil rights-era law.
December 1, 2021 -
Voting rights activists are growing impatient as Senate Republicans' use of the filibuster continues to obstruct popular pro-democracy legislation. They warn that the window for meaningful legislative action is closing as international observers sound the alarm about rising U.S. authoritarianism.
July 2, 2021 -
Last week the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was suing Georgia over its restrictive new voting law, part of a recent wave of such legislation passed by Republican-led state legislatures. But a July 1 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on a Voting Rights Act case out of Arizona makes the lawsuit's future even more uncertain.
June 17, 2021 -
This Juneteenth, Black Voters Matter will launch a bus tour through Southern states marking the 60th anniversary of the original Freedom Rides that successfully challenged segregation. The tour will promote the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and drive home the importance of confronting voter suppression.
April 20, 2021 -
Georgia lawmakers passed a slew of voting restrictions last month that put an especially heavy burden on young and Black people. The best hope to ensure the survival of democracy is for Congress to pass the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
March 24, 2021 -
U.S. senators are currently considering whether to eliminate, reform, or protect the filibuster. The parliamentary procedure that gives the minority outsized power has a long history of being used to undermine civil rights legislation — and it now threatens to derail a bold Democratic agenda that includes voting rights and other pro-democracy reforms.
March 10, 2021 -
Republican lawmakers nationwide have introduced over 250 bills this year to restrict voting access in 43 states — 39 bills in Georgia alone. Given the backlash against last year's record-breaking voter turnout playing out at the state level, voting rights advocates are looking to Congress and the promise of H.R. 1, which has now advanced to the U.S. Senate. But can it get past the filibuster?
