Democratic Lawmakers Promote Restoration Of Voting Rights Act After Death Of John Lewis

In honor of the late civil rights icon John Lewis, top Democratic lawmakers on Monday promoted a Senate bill that would fully restore the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Rights Act was originally passed in 1965 and prohibits state and local governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on their race. In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the law forcing jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to obtain approval before changing voting rules.

Lewis, a congressman who served in the House from 1987 until his death on Friday, had urged Congress to fully restore the Act in the years following the 2013 decision by the Court. The House of Representatives passed legislation to restore the Act in December, with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D- Vt., tweeting Sunday he would introduce counterpart legislation in the Senate.

“As author and chief sponsor of the Senate bill I will be reintroducing #VRAA this week, naming it for John Lewis, my longtime partner on this,” Leahy tweeted. A list of Senate Democrats have thrown their support behind Leahy’s proposal, most notably Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has not brought the House-passed legislation to the floor. "There's very little tangible evidence of this whole voter-suppression nonsense that the Democrats are promoting,” McConnell told the Wall Street Journal last week.

Lewis, 80, had served Georgia’s 5th district for more than three decades. He had frequently criticized President Trump, and has even accused him of being a racist.

Lewis’ funeral plans have not been announced, but memorials are expected to take place in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and in his hometown of Troy, Alabama.