Washington, DC – In response to the Supreme Court majority’s decision to eviscerate a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, People For the American Way President Svante Myrick released the following statement:
“Generations of Americans fought, bled, and died to win passage of the Voting Rights Act. It was a defining step toward making the promise of American democracy real for people who had long been shut out of the halls of power.
Today’s decision is the latest in a shameful series of rulings to undermine that progress and take us backwards. It will make our representative democracy less representative and less democratic.
The dissenting justices rightly denounced what they called ‘the majority’s now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.’
This decision demonstrates the vital importance of ensuring that people who serve on the Supreme Court have a demonstrated commitment to the principle that ‘we the people’ means all the people. The decision also makes abundantly clear the need for Supreme Court structural reforms, including term limits for sitting justices, expansion of the Court, and a binding code of ethics.
Today’s decision will intensify the struggle for justice. We will fight for necessary reforms and continue to push for broader, bolder, voting rights protections, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
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About People For the American Way:
People For the American Way is a national progressive advocacy organization that inspires and mobilizes Americans to defend freedom, justice, and democracy from those who threaten to take them away. For more than four decades, we have been dedicated to making the promise of American ideals real for everyone and have worked toward a vision of a vibrant America where basic rights and freedoms are upheld for all, not just the wealthy and the powerful. Learn more at peoplefor.org.
