Voting Rights Act

Floor Speech

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call my colleagues to action.

Monday, the Supreme Court handed down its decision regarding the Voting Rights Act, ruling that the current formula for determining covered jurisdictions is outdated. Nearly 2 hours after the SCOTUS ruling, one prominent Texas leader said that they will move immediately to reinstate the State's voter ID laws that were passed in 2011.

Mr. Speaker, in 2011, the Justice Department objected to Texas' voter ID law because the State's own data indicated that the law would have a detrimental impact on minority voters, the poor and the elderly. Why in the world would a State as great as Texas want to implement a law that its own data said would hurt the very citizens in its own State?

For this very reason, me and six other plaintiffs have filed suit in Federal court to bar enforcement of Texas' discriminatory voter ID law. The lawsuit in place is to ensure that we do not disenfranchise voters and to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans.

I refuse to allow Texas or any other State to replicate laws that constrict our American values. I firmly stand here as proof that Texans and Americans need a voice. I call upon my colleagues to work together to ensure voter protections remain. The Supreme Court has overreached, and now it's time for us to act to protect the integrity of democracy.

Source