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House Democrats PASS the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to boost DOJ oversight in elections : ALL Republicans vote no on bill that's set to stall in the Senate

House Democrats have passed legislation that would strengthen a landmark civil rights-era voting law weakened by the Supreme Court over the past decade – in move that is running into nearly unified GOP opposition in the Senate. 

Party leaders touted the vote as substantial progress in their quest to fight back against voting restrictions advanced in Republican-led states and Civil Rights-era protections, at a time of bitter party clashes over voting rules.

The bill, which is part of a broader Democratic effort to enact a sweeping overhaul of elections, was approved on a 219-212 vote, with no Republican support. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted the Supreme Court and said 'hopefully' the John Lewis Voting Rights Act would advance in the Senate

Its Tuesday passage was praised by President Joe Biden, who said it would protect a 'sacred right' and called on the Senate to 'send this important bill to my desk.'

But the measure faces dim prospects in that chamber, where Democrats do not have enough votes to overcome opposition from Senate Republicans, who have rejected the bill as 'unnecessary' and a Democratic 'power grab.'

A single Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has expressed support for it. 

That bottleneck puts Democrats right back where they started with a slim chance of enacting any voting legislation before the 2022 midterm elections, when some in the party fear new GOP laws will make it harder for many Americans to vote.     

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took an optimistic tone in comments to reporters Wednesday. 'Hopefully it will see success there,' she said of the Senate.

She blasted the Supreme Court majority for an 'assault on the Voting Rights Act. 'What could they be thinking? Thinking, caring? I don’t know,' she fumed.

She noted that the last Voting Rights Act reauthorization, before the Court's rulings, came on bipartisan House votes.

Senate Republicans are putting up nearly unified opposition against the bill

Senate Republicans are putting up nearly unified opposition against the bill 

The bill is part of a bitter party clash over voting rules

The bill is part of a bitter party clash over voting rules

'Unfortunately yesterday you did not see that bipartisanship and it was really sad. This is fundamental to our democracy that we respect the sanctity of the vote. That is what John Lewis’ life and risk of death was about,' she said. 

Speaking from the House floor, Pelosi said it was imperative for Congress to counteract the Republican efforts, which she characterized as 'dangerous' and 'anti-democratic.'

'Democracy is under attack from what is the worst voter suppression campaign in America since Jim Crow,' Pelosi said.

Key provisions of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act bill 

The bill creates a new formula for states and jurisdictions that need ‘preclearance’ from the Justice Department for election changes. 

The Supreme Court struck struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 and 2021. The court ruled that the Civil Rights era 1965 law was obsolete, and Congress must identify jurisdictions to be monitored ‘in light of current conditions.’

States and subdivisions with 15 or more ‘voting rights violations’ over the past quarter century would qualify. So would those with 10 or more violations if at least one was committed ‘by the state itself.’ States can get out of monitoring if they establish a ‘clean record.’ Preclearance would be triggered with three or more violations over 25 years and the state administers elections.

It would come into play for a political subdivision like a county if three or more voting rights violations occurred there during the previous 25 years.’

The bill authorizes the Justice Department to require states to hand over election information.

Courts would be required to consider a state’s history of discrimination. The bill would stop states was from relying on new heightened standard imposed by the court’s recent Brnovich v. the Democratic National Committee ruling on Arizona voting changes.

 

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named for the late Georgia congressman who made the issue a defining one of his career, would restore voting rights protections that have been dismantled by the Supreme Court. Under the proposal, the Justice Department would again police new changes to voting laws in states that have racked up a series of 'violations,' drawing them into a mandatory review process known as 'preclearance.'

The practice was first put in place under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But it was struck down by a conservative majority on the Supreme Court in 2013, which ruled the formula for determining which states needed their laws reviewed was outdated and unfairly punitive. The court did, however, say that Congress could come up with a new formula, which is what the bill does. 

A second ruling from the court in July made it more difficult to challenge voting restrictions in court under another section of the law.

The bill´s sponsor, Rep. Terri Sewell, said 'old battles have indeed become new again,' enabled by the Supreme Court´s rulings.

'While literacy tests and poll taxes no longer exist, certain states and local jurisdictions have passed laws that are modern day barriers to voting,' said Sewell, an Alabama Democrat.

In many cases, the new bill wouldn't apply to laws enacted in the years since the court's 2013 ruling. That likely includes the wave of new Republican-backed restrictions inspired by Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 election.

But if signed into law along with Democrats' other election bill, the For the People Act, many of those restrictions could be neutralized - and likely prevented from getting approved again. Both laws would likely face legal challenges.

In the short term, the vote Tuesday was expected to soothe restive Democratic activists who have been frustrated by inaction on the issue in the Senate.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said he was 'encouraged' by the bill's passage. But he also offered a thinly veiled threat, pledging to watch closely as the Senate takes it up and 'keep track of every yea and every nay' vote.

'Make no mistake, we will be there, on the ground in 2022, in every state that needs a new Senator,' he said in a statement.

Democrats' slim 50-50 majority in the Senate means they lack the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. For months, progressives have called for scrapping the filibuster, but a number of moderate Democrats oppose the idea, denying the votes needed to do so.

It's also not clear that the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, as written, would be supported by all Democrats in the Senate, where there are no votes to spare.

One provision in the bill would ban many types of voter ID laws, including those already on the books. That's at odds with a proposal from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who is the chamber's most conservative Democrat. He's spent weeks working with Senate leadership to develop a more narrowly focused alternative to the For the People Act, and has specifically called for a voter ID standard that would allow for people to use a document like a utility bill.

Republicans, meanwhile, blasted the timing of the measure, noting that Pelosi called Democrats back from August recess to pass the bill, as well as to take votes on Democrats' spending priorities, when the U.S. is dealing with its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

'If there´s any moment in time to put an election aside, if there´s any moment of time to put politics aside I would have thought today was this day,' said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Conservatives also criticized the bill as a departure from the 1965 voting law, which used minority turnout data as well as a place's history of enacting discriminatory voting laws when determining which places would be subject to preclearance.

The new bill, instead, leans heavily on looser standards, such as using the number of legal settlements and consent decrees issued in voting rights cases, to pull places into preclearance.

That would, Republicans argue, play into the hands of Democrats, who have built a sophisticated and well-funded legal effort to challenge voting rules in conservative-leaning states.

Rep. Michelle Fischbach, a Minnesota Republican, predicted it would be a boon for Democratic advocacy groups and trial lawyers, who would 'file as many objections as possible to manufacture litigation.'

'It empowers the attorney general to bully states and seek federal approval before making changes to their own voting laws,' she said.

--

This story has been corrected to show Rep. Fischbach is a Minnesota Republican, not from Iowa.

A U.S. Secret Service officer rides his bicycle past protesters, including Ben Jealous, center, and Rev. Melvin Wilson, right, as they rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A U.S. Secret Service officer rides his bicycle past protesters, including Ben Jealous, center, and Rev. Melvin Wilson, right, as they rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Kathy Chiron, President of the DC Chapter of the League of Women Voters, wears a necklace saying "vote" while attending a rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Kathy Chiron, President of the DC Chapter of the League of Women Voters, wears a necklace saying 'vote' while attending a rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People rally for voting rights, including statehood for the District of Columbia, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People rally for voting rights, including statehood for the District of Columbia, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Ben Jealous speaks during a rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Ben Jealous speaks during a rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

LaTosha Brown, left, and Cliff Albright, both with Black Voters Matter, rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

LaTosha Brown, left, and Cliff Albright, both with Black Voters Matter, rally for voting rights, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, near the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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