The Voting Rights Act was born from sacrifice.
It was made possible by a civil rights movement that endured intimidation, violence, arrests, and murder to secure one of the most fundamental rights in a democracy: the right to vote.
Former Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis nearly died on the Edmund Pettus Bridge fighting for that right. Countless others marched, organized, registered voters, and risked everything so that Black Americans and other communities long excluded from political power could finally have the full protection of federal law.
Now the right-wing Supreme Court and Republican politicians across the country are trying to hollow that law out.
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais is the latest devastating blow. The Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map that included two majority Black districts, further weakening the protections that voters have relied on to challenge discriminatory maps and defend fair representation.
Republicans have wasted no time.
Across the country, Republican controlled states are already moving to redraw congressional districts again, not because voters demanded it, not because communities need fairer representation, but because the Supreme Court has given them another opening to lock in partisan power. In Louisiana, lawmakers are advancing a map that would eliminate a majority Black district. In South Carolina, the governor has called a special session to redraw maps. Other states are considering or preparing similar moves.
This is a direct assault on our democracy.
Republicans know that when every eligible voter can cast a ballot and every community has a fair chance at representation, they will not be able to impose their extreme agenda. So they are trying to change the rules, weaken the law, and manipulate district lines before voters can hold them accountable.
Congress has the power to respond. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore and strengthen critical Voting Rights Act protections, including safeguards that require jurisdictions with records of voting discrimination to clear certain election changes before they can take effect.
That is exactly why it is needed now.
For decades, the Voting Rights Act stood as one of the most powerful civil rights laws in our nation’s history. It helped stop discriminatory voting rules before they could silence voters. It helped protect communities from being carved apart or packed together to dilute their power. It helped make the promise of democracy more real.
But a right-wing Supreme Court majority has spent years dismantling those protections, first by gutting preclearance in Shelby County v. Holder and now by making it virtually impossible to challenge discriminatory maps under the Voting Rights Act.
The result is exactly what voting rights advocates warned would happen: states with long records of discrimination are moving faster, voters have fewer protections, and communities of color are being forced to fight after the damage is already underway.
We cannot let the law that generations fought and died for be reduced to a shell while Congress looks away.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is a direct and necessary response to a coordinated effort to weaken voting rights, entrench Republican power, and make it harder for voters to hold their elected officials accountable.
The Voting Rights Act was born from one of the most consequential civil rights struggles in our history. It carried the hopes of people who risked everything for the simple but profound demand that every citizen’s vote be protected and counted.
We owe them more than remembrance. We owe them action.
