GOP Witness In VRA Hearing: Reports Of Demise Of VRA Are ‘Hype’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A witness at a House Republican hearing Thursday on the Voting Rights Act said that reports of the demise of the historic legislation have been “greatly exaggerated.”

“Those who say that the Supreme Court decision in Shelby means an end to protections in the Voting Rights Act are peddling hype,” said J. Christian Adams, an attorney at the Election Law Center and former attorney for the Voting Section at the United States Department of Justice. “In fact, they are peddling the most dangerous and disingenuous sort of hype. Deliberately stoking fears, deliberately targeting certain racial groups for disinformation, deliberately ignoring the multiple protections which remain in the Voting Rights Act does a disservice to the nation and to civil rights.”

“The Voting Rights Act remains alive and well,” he said at the subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice’s hearing. 

The Supreme Court last month invalidated Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, the provision that determines which parts of the country are required to have changes to their voting and election laws pre-cleared by the Justice Department.

 
Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: