On August 16, 2021, Jon Greenbaum, chief counsel and senior deputy director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, testified before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. The hearing, “Oversight of the Voting Rights Act: Potential Legislative Reforms,” focused on how Congress can remedy the damage to racial equity in voting caused by the Supreme Court’s decisions in Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee.
Greenbaum discussed how successful Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) was in preventing voting discrimination and helping voters of color access the ballot box. Prior to the Shelby County v. Holder decision in 2013, over 3,000 discriminatory voting changes were denied, including 800 election method changes and 500 redistricting plans.
Since the Shelby County decision:
- The Lawyers’ Committee has participated in more than 100 cases to protect the right to vote and fight back against discriminatory voting changes and barriers to the ballot box;
- We have sued seven of the nine states that were previously covered by Section 5, with a significant amount of time and resources invested into litigation in Georgia and Texas; and
- We have brought cases against 37 local and state governments, 78% of which were previously covered by Section 5.
Greenbaum also noted how the Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee decision significantly weakened Section 2 of the VRA, and will make it unreasonably difficult for civil rights plaintiffs to win when they bring Section 2 claims in their litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Brnovich case disregards congressional intent and gives lower courts the discretion to deny Section 2 claims based on a state’s mere invocation of voter fraud.
Greenbaum advocated for Congress to quickly pass H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the federal preclearance provision that allows the Department of Justice to review any voting changes in covered jurisdictions, and will also reconstruct Section 2 so it can be applied to all forms of voting discrimination.
