Forty-ninth anniversaries don’t usually garner much attention, but today a 49th anniversary—though filled with pathos—is worth commemorating. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1964. Often called the “crown jewel” of the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act has now lost a bit of its luster, tarnished by the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
The passage of the Voting Rights Act took barely four months after the President sent the bill to Congress; he called it “one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom.” And it passed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both chambers, foreshadowing the four reauthorization votes that reaffirmed its vitality over the years since. The last, in 2006, passed by a vote of 98-0 in the Senate and 390-33 in the House. But no more.
Since the Supreme Court eviscerated preclearance, one of the most important tools written into the VRA to fight racial discrimination, the law’s historical bipartisan support seems but a distant memory. Preclearance requires states and smaller jurisdictions with particularly troubling histories of voting discrimination to secure federal approval in advance for any voting changes. The law swept broadly, recognizing that even seemingly trivial statutory or administrative changes often operate to disadvantage racial and language minorities. One of its most significant advantages was to mitigate the necessity to file expensive and time-consuming lawsuits to redress voting discrimination on a case-by-case basis. As part of the VRA, it was reauthorized four times. But no more.
In January of 2014, more than seven months after the Shelby County decision was handed down, members of Congress in both chambers introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act, intended to fill the gaping legal hole that the Supreme Court created. At this point—more than six months after its introduction—not a single Republican has joined Senator Patrick Leahy as a cosponsor. Only 11 Republicans in the House have joined Republican voting rights champion James Sensenbrenner. Bipartisanship in voting rights clearly reigns no more.
The 49th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act is an occasion to look back, but also an opportunity to look forward. Congress should take this opportunity to demonstrate that the American people still need and deserve every legal remedy contemplated by the VRA in 1965. Both Republicans and Democrats should sign on to the Voting Rights Amendment Act in droves. And please, let’s get it passed long before the 50th anniversary.