Statement Of
Sen. Patrick Leahy,
Ranking Member, Committee On The Judiciary
Opening Statement On The Reauthorization
Of The Temporary Provisions
Of The Voting Rights Act
April 27, 2006
I extend a warm welcome today to our
distinguished witnesses, the House Judiciary Chairman and Ranking
Member, and we thank them for appearing before this Committee as we
begin our Senate hearings on the Voting Rights Act. I also want to
express my appreciation to the rest of the House Judiciary
Committee, especially Representatives Nadler, Chabot and Watt, for
their hard work on 10 hearings on the effectiveness and continuing
need for the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
There are few things as critical to
the fabric of our nation, and to American citizenship, as voting.
The right to vote and to have your vote count is a foundational
right, like our First Amendment rights, because it secures the
effectiveness of other protections. The legitimacy of our
government is dependent on the access all Americans have to the
political process.
As we begin Senate hearings on the
Voting Rights Act, we are reminded of the historic struggle for
civil rights led by such American heroes as Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Coretta Scott King. We remember the courageous act of Rosa
Parks, who refused to be treated as a second-class citizen. And we
recall how on March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, John Lewis and his
fellow civil rights marchers fought for their right to vote but were
attacked brutally by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
The events of that day, now known as
“Bloody Sunday,” were captured in news photos and on television, and
those powerful images marked a crucial turning point in securing the
right to vote for all Americans. A few days after the violence of
Bloody Sunday, President Lyndon Johnson outlined the proposed Voting
Rights Act of 1965, before a joint session of Congress. Within
months, Congress passed it so that the Constitution’s guarantees of
equal access to the electoral process, regardless of race, would not
be undermined by discriminatory practices.
The pervasive discriminatory tactics
that led to the original Voting Rights Act were deeply rooted. As a
nation, this fight dated back almost 100 years, to the
ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870, the last of
the post-Civil War Reconstruction amendments. It took
implementation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for people of all
races in many parts of our country to gain the effective exercise of
rights guaranteed 95 years earlier by the 15th
Amendment.
Congress has reauthorized and
revitalized the Act four times, each time with overwhelmingly
bipartisan support. I am particularly pleased that today we are
repeating the bicameral and bipartisan process of the 1982
reauthorization, a process in which the Chairman and I were both
Members of this Committee, along with Senators Kennedy, Biden, Hatch
and Grassley. Under the chairmanship of Senator Strom Thurmond,
reauthorization was reported by this Committee and passed both
houses of Congress.
The
Expiring Provisions
The enactment of the Voting Rights Act
in 1965 transformed the landscape of political inclusion. As people
are able to register, vote, and elect candidates of their choice,
their interests and rights get attention. Prior to the Act,
minorities of all races faced major barriers to participation in the
political process, through the use of such devices as poll taxes,
exclusionary primaries, intimidation by voting officials, language
barriers, and systematic vote dilution. We have made significant
progress toward a more inclusive democracy.
Still, I fear that if we fail to
reauthorize the Act’s expiring provisions, in particular Sections 5
and 203, our country is likely to backslide. Unfortunately, the
work of the expiring provisions to remedy the denial of voting
rights in many parts of the country remains incomplete. We must
give these provisions time to solidify the gains that we have been
making as a nation.
The record compiled in the House is
replete with modern examples of discriminatory tactics employed
since the Act was last reauthorized in jurisdictions covered by the
temporary provisions. The state reports prepared by civil rights
experts and practitioners set forth in great detail evidence of
recurring problems in those jurisdictions. I look forward to the
completion of the remaining state reports and their inclusion in the
Senate hearing record. I also look forward to receiving the
testimony of more witnesses and considering additional evidence on
the need for continuation of the the expiring provisions.
Protection of
Language Minorities
As part of the Voting Rights Act
reauthorization in 1975, Congress added Section 203, which requires
bilingual voting assistance for certain language minority groups.
It has been a key factor expanding the inclusiveness of democracy
and has led to extraordinary gains in representation and
participation made by Asian-American and Hispanic-American
populations.
In this debate, we are
talking about American citizens. It is imperative that all citizens
be able to exercise their rights as citizens, particularly a right
as fundamental as the right to vote.
Renewing the
language provisions of the Voting Rights Act that are expiring will
help make that a reality.
Conclusion
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped
to usher the country out of a history of discrimination into the
greater inclusion of all Americans in the decisions about our
nation’s future. Our democracy and our nation are better and richer
for it. I urge this Committee to build on the work done in the
House of Representatives. Congress should extend the expiring
provisions this year so that we can eliminate recurring
discrimination and make sure that the gains we have made are not
lost. This is about making our democracy reflect the will of all of
the American people.
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