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28–343 PDF 2006

S. HRG. 109–555

RENEWING THE TEMPORARY PROVISIONS OF THE

VOTING RIGHTS ACT: AN INTRODUCTION TO

THE EVIDENCE

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

APRIL 27, 2006

Serial No. J–109–70

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

(

(II)

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

JON KYL, Arizona 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware 

HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

MICHAEL O’NEILL, Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

BRUCE A. COHEN, Democratic Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS 

Page

Cornyn, Hon. John, a U.S. Senator from the State of Texas ............................... 4

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 17

Feingold, Hon. Russell D., a U.S. Senator from the State of Wisconsin ............. 10

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 18

Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts ... 3

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 20

Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 2

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 22

Specter, Hon. Arlen, a U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania ................. 1

WITNESSES 

Conyers, Hon. John, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Michigan ............................................................................................................... 7

Sensenbrenner, Hon. F. James, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the 

State of Wisconsin ................................................................................................ 5

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

Conyers, Hon. John, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Michigan, prepared statement ............................................................................ 12

Sensenbrenner, Hon. F. James, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the 

State of Wisconsin, prepared statement ............................................................. 25

Voting rights reports and hearings, list ................................................................. 30

(1)

RENEWING THE TEMPORARY PROVISIONS OF 

THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EVIDENCE 

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:40 p.m., in room 

SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Arlen Specter, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Specter, Cornyn, Leahy, Kennedy and Feingold. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ARLEN SPECTER, A U.S. 

SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Chairman SPECTER. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I customarily say the Judiciary Committee will proceed, but I had better 

on this occasion say the Senate Judiciary Committee will proceed 

because we have both the Senate and the House Judiciary Committee present. We might have invited Chairman Sensenbrenner 

and Ranking Member Conyers here to sit on the dais, but we will 

proceed in the customary way. 

The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., a Member of Congress from the 5th District of Wisconsin, became a Member of Congress in November of 1978 after serving 10 years in the Wisconsin 

State Legislature. He became Chairman of the House Committee 

on the Judiciary beginning in the 107th Congress. Previously, he 

had served as Chairman of the House Committee on Science. He 

is a graduate of Stanford in 1965 and has a law degree from the 

University of Wisconsin in 1968. 

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., is a Democratic Member from 

Detroit, Michigan, representing the 4th Congressional District. He 

entered the House of Representatives in 1964 and is now the second most senior member serving in the House. After serving as 

Chairman of the House Committee on Governmental Operations 

from 1989 to 1994, he was elected to lead the Democratic side of 

the House Committee on the Judiciary. He has a bachelor of arts 

degree in 1957 and his law degree in 1958 from Wayne State University. 

Welcome, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member. It is an 

honor for us to have you here. We have talked preliminarily about 

the procedures which we will follow in moving ahead for the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, a matter of great importance. 

2

There is nothing more important than the right of citizens to vote, 

the backbone and basis of our constitutional democracy. 

We are also joined by Congressman John Lewis, from Georgia, 

and Congressman Mel Watt, from North Carolina. 

Senator Leahy. 

STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT 

Senator LEAHY. Mr. Chairman, I join with you in the welcome to 

Chairman Sensenbrenner, Congressman Conyers and the others. It 

is interesting. Just in chatting in the back room, I was saying even 

in my State, which probably has the smallest number of minorities 

of any State in the country, this is a matter of great interest among 

church groups, civic groups, business groups, just as a matter of 

fairness, something that we pride ourselves on in Vermont. So I appreciate the work that the four of you have done, as has been mentioned, but also other, of course, other Representatives, Representative Nadler and Chabot and others. 

It is hard to even think there is a debate on such basic rights—

the right to vote and the right to have your vote count, which is 

just as important as the right to vote, of course. The legitimacy of 

our Government is dependent on all Americans having that right. 

We are all reminded of the historic struggle for civil rights, led 

by such American heroes as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and 

Coretta Scott King. We have been reminded again, if we needed the 

reminder, in the last few months of the courageous act of Rosa 

Parks, who said she was not going to be treated as a second-class 

citizen. 

I remember as a young lawyer March 7, 1965, the pictures in 

Selma, Alabama, of Congressman John Lewis, not a Congressman 

then, and his fellow civil rights marchers as they fought for their 

right to vote. They were attacked by State troopers on the Edmund 

Pettus Bridge—Bloody Sunday, the photographs, the television. It 

was something that galvanized the Nation. In my State of 

Vermont, where we just couldn’t conceive of such things happening, 

unlike where John Lewis and so many others saw this as a daily 

thing, the outrage was palpable. 

A few days after that, President Johnson outlined the proposed 

Voting Rights Act of 1965. Within months, Congress passed it. The 

pervasive discriminatory tactics that led to it were deeply rooted. 

This fight dated back almost 100 years to the ratification of the 

15th Amendment in 1870, the last of the post-Civil War Reconstruction amendments. It wasn’t until 1965, 95 years later, that we 

were actually making that a reality. 

We have authorized it, we have reauthorized it. In 1982, we had 

a bipartisan process. Mr. Chairman, you and I were there from this 

Committee, and, of course, Senator Kennedy, who has been the 

leader for so many years on this, and Senator Biden, Senator 

Hatch, Senator Grassley, and the late Senator Strom Thurmond. 

We passed it in both Houses. 

I have a lot more and I will just put it in the record, Mr. Chairman, but the point being at a time of increasing partisanship and 

at a time sometimes when both bodies find themselves at loggerheads, this is one thing that ought to unite all of us—Republicans, 

3

Democrats, members of the House, members of the Senate. We 

would truly be doing this Nation’s business. Let’s pass it. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Leahy appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman SPECTER. Senator Kennedy, would you care to make 

an opening statement? 

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS 

Senator KENNEDY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I first of all want 

to thank you and Senator Leahy for having this hearing today, and 

welcoming our colleagues and friends from the House. They have 

been diligent in reviewing this legislation a great deal. They have 

brought together experts from all parts of the country with varying 

views. I want to commend you and Senator Leahy for inviting them 

to share this extraordinary collection of material that can be of 

such value to the Senate in its consideration of this very important 

issue and question. 

I am reminded, when I see both Representative Sensenbrenner 

and Representative Conyers, that both of them were here in 1982 

when we reauthorized it. At that time, if you remember, Mr. Chairman, actually the administration did not favor the extension of it 

at that time. It was a matter that was contentious and took a good 

deal of time. The House led the way in that struggle and battle, 

and the Senate passed it with over 70 votes ultimately. Dr. King 

called the Voting Rights Act the No. 1 civil right, the right to vote 

and have that vote fully and fairly counted. 

Mr. Chairman, I had the opportunity to participate in the Act’s 

original passage and each of the later renewals. The year after its 

passage, I had the privilege of addressing the Southern Christian 

Leadership Conference in Mississippi, at the invitation of Dr. King. 

When he and Coretta King met me at the airport, we drove back 

along a road littered with hate leaflets and two-inch nails, intended, no doubt, as a threat to the Kings. 

That trip was significant not for these attempts at intimidation, 

but for the enthusiasm that every one of the SCLC delegates 

showed for the right to vote newly protected by the Voting Rights 

Act and to participate fully in our American democracy. 

There are no words to describe the importance of the step we 

took in passing the Act to see that America finally lived up to its 

ideals of democracy and justice for all. And as we considering reauthorizing key portions of the law, we must remember how far we 

have come and we must never, never go back to the dark days. Section 5 serves as an important protection against backsliding by jurisdictions with a history of particularly severe discrimination in 

voting. 

So, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the presentations of our 

friends today and to the hearings and to the passage of this legislation. As our friend, Senator Leahy, and others have pointed out, 

there have been many areas of division in the Congress. The idea 

that we could all come together in support of this legislation at this 

time on an issue of such overwhelming importance and consequence, I think, is a very important message to the American 

people that those that have positions of responsibility understand 

4

that the right to vote is the bedrock of our democracy and to all 

democracies, and we are going to do everything we can to preserve 

it. 

I thank the Chair. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Kennedy appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman SPECTER. Thank you very much, Senator Kennedy. 

Senator Cornyn, would you care to make an opening statement? 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN CORNYN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Senator CORNYN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have a brief 

statement. Thank you, first of all, for holding this first in a series 

of hearings to explore the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights 

Act. As you have already noted, few issues are as fundamental to 

our system of democracy and the promise of equality inherent in 

our Nation’s founding as voting rights, rightfully called by President Reagan the crown jewel of American liberties. 

The Voting Rights Act was adopted at the height of the civil 

rights movement in 1965. On the day he signed the bill into law, 

President Lyndon Johnson, a former member of this body whose 

seat I am privileged to hold, referred to the Act’s passage as a, 

quote, ‘‘triumph of freedom as huge as any victory that has ever 

been won on any battlefield.’’ 

President Johnson’s words captured the atmosphere surrounding 

the Act’s passage, a hard-fought victory at a tense time in the Nation’s history. Indeed, it is no secret why the Voting Rights Act was 

necessary. Numerous jurisdictions throughout the United States 

had engaged in the intentional, systematic disenfranchisement of 

blacks and other minorities through the use of tests, taxes, intimidation and other oppressive measures. 

In response, the Voting Rights Act permanently enshrined in law 

the long-unfulfilled promise of citizenship and democratic participation guaranteed by the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It further enacted for a 5-year period provisions designed 

to subject certain jurisdictions to Federal oversight of their voting 

laws and procedures until the intent of the Act was realized. 

I think it is significant to point to the fact that much progress 

has been made. Today, black voter registration rates are approaching, and in many areas have surpassed the rates of white voters. 

Hispanic voter registration is rapidly rising as well. In my State of 

Texas, in 2004, black voter registration was 68.4 percent, as compared to a national average of 64.4 percent. Hispanic voter registration was 41.5 percent, as compared to a national average of 

34.5 percent. 

With this marked progress as a backdrop, we are faced with determining whether certain provisions of the Act should be renewed, 

as they were in 1970, 1975 and 1982. As we proceed with the upcoming hearings listening to witnesses and studying the record, I 

hope we will seek a complete understanding of the strides made toward political empowerment and equal access to democratic participation throughout the Nation and craft our future national policy 

accordingly. 

Thank you very much. 

5

Chairman SPECTER. Thank you very much, Senator Cornyn. 

Your full statement will be made a part of the record, without 

objection. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Cornyn appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman SPECTER. We turn now to you, Chairman Sensenbrenner. 

STATEMENT OF HON. F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WISCONSIN 

Representative SENSENBRENNER. Thank you very much, Chairman Specter, Ranking Member Leahy, Senators Kennedy and 

Cornyn. I thank you for the opportunity to testify this afternoon. 

Ranking Member Conyers and I are here today to express bipartisan support for legislation to extend the Voting Rights Act to ensure that the right to vote continues to be protected to the full extent of Congress’ constitutional authority. 

As many of you know, my interest in the Voting Rights Act dates 

back some 25 years. In 1982, I was proud to help lead a bipartisan 

effort to reauthorize the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights 

Act for an additional 25 years. In addition to reauthorizing the Act, 

we made several necessary changes to Sections 2 and 4 to address 

the concerns of many interested parties. I believe that the 1982 

amendments have been effective in further transforming our local, 

State and Federal election systems for the better. 

Over the last 25 years, we have witnessed significant increases 

in minority registration and turn-out. We have also seen substantial changes in the make-up of local, State and Federal elected offices. Today, more and more minority citizens hold elective office in 

Congress, State legislatures, city councils and school boards, and 

our Nation has been enriched as a result. 

Last summer, in recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Voting 

Rights Act, I, along with Ranking Member Conyers and Judiciary 

Committee member and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Mel 

Watt and our colleague civil rights leader John Lewis of Georgia, 

pledged our commitment to see the Voting Rights Act’s temporary 

provisions reauthorized for an additional 25 years. 

Since last fall, the House Judiciary Committee has examined the 

Voting Rights Act in great detail, with a particular focus on the 

provisions currently set to expire in 2007. I am here today to 

present this Committee with the results of our examination, which 

includes almost 8,000 pages of testimony that comprise 9 of the 10 

hearing records compiled by the House Judiciary Committee. 

Since October of last year, the House Subcommittee on the Constitution has held 10 hearings and received oral and written testimony from more than 39 witnesses, including supporters and opponents of reauthorization. The hearings examined the effectiveness 

of each of the expiring provisions in remedying discrimination, as 

well as their continued need over the next 25 years. In some cases, 

the Committee held multiple hearings on certain provisions to ensure that all of the relevant issues were fully examined. 

I would ask the Committee to incorporate the hearing record 

compiled by the House into your record. 

6

Chairman SPECTER. Without objection, it will be made a part of 

our record, perhaps the most voluminous unanimous consent request in the history of the Committee. 

Representative SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Chairman, quality rather 

than quantity counts, and you will find there is quality in there, 

too. 

Chairman SPECTER. We accept the representation of quality. We 

observe the quantity. 

Representative SENSENBRENNER. Thank you. 

In particular, the Committee examined the continued effect of 

Section 4(b)’s trigger formula and identifying those jurisdictions 

covered by the extraordinary remedies; the feasibility of the bailout process, as demonstrated by the successful bail-out of eleven 

counties in the covered State of Virginia; the increased use and 

continued need for Section 5’s pre-clearance requirements; the continued need for Federal observers in covered jurisdictions to protect 

minority voters; and the impact Section 203 has had on facilitating 

the participation of language-minority citizens in the political process. 

The Committee has also carefully examined the impact certain 

Supreme Court decisions have had on Section 5’s ability to protect 

minorities from discriminatory voting changes enacted by covered 

jurisdictions, particularly in State and Congressional redistricting 

initiatives. 

In addition to the testimony received during the hearings, the 

Committee has received and incorporated into its hearing record 

written testimony from the Department of Justice, non-governmental organizations, and other interested citizens, including several comprehensive national and State reports. This information 

significantly strengthened the Committee’s record by documenting 

discrimination in the electoral process, the temporary provisions’ 

effectiveness in addressing discrimination, and the continued need 

for Federal oversight in covered jurisdictions over the next 25 

years. 

This comprehensive record established by the Committee strongly supports reauthorization of the VRA, and I believe this record 

will be vitally important in ensuring that the resulting legislation 

can withstand an almost certain constitutional challenge. The Supreme Court looked to similar records in upholding the use of these 

extraordinary measures on two separate occasions, first in 1965, 

and again in 1980. 

It has been 40 years since Congress took the first steps to remedy our Nation’s sad history of discrimination in voting. The Committee’s record demonstrates that while progress has been made, 

the vestiges of discrimination are still present in certain parts of 

the country. As the record also reveals, Congress is clearly justified 

under Section 2 of the 15th Amendment in using all remedies at 

its disposal to ensure that the most fundamental right of citizenship, the right to vote, is protected for all citizens. 

Thank you for your indulgence today, and happy reading. 

[The prepared statement of Representative Sensenbrenner appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman SPECTER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Member Conyers. 

7

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN 

Representative CONYERS. Thank you, Chairman Specter, and to 

our Ranking Member, Pat Leahy, and our dear friend, Senator Ted 

Kennedy. It is an honor for me to appear here today. You see, my 

congressional career goes back to 1965 and my service on the Judiciary Committee as the first African-American to hold that honored 

position has not been lost on me all these years. 

So I am deeply sensitive to the fact that John Lewis just passed 

me a note observing that today is the birthday of the late Coretta 

Scott King, and so I see the significance of this moment, of this 

day, of the House and the Senate coming together to work as expeditiously as we can to continue the crown jewel of the civil rights 

laws in America. I also remember that it was in Atlanta that Senator Ted Kennedy spoke for the U.S. Senate at the memorial services of Coretta King and I was honored to make a presentation for 

the House of Representatives. So this is special. 

When Martin King and Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young went 

back to President Johnson to ask for a voting rights bill, he told 

them that he had thought that he gotten as much as he could out 

of the legislative body here and that it might not be possible. But 

when he saw that Bloody Sunday, which went across the Nation 

on television, he, like the country, was shocked at the violence that 

was visited upon all of those folks there in a non-violent, peaceful 

march for voting rights, in which many others, including John 

Lewis, was a participant. He called back and said I want to get an 

effective and strong Voting Rights Act as quickly as we can 

through the Congress. 

It is funny how these things come together, and I commend Jim 

Sensenbrenner, the Chairman of this Committee, because he was 

very effective in the 1982 extensions and has worked with us in a 

truly cooperative way. It is not by accident that we have John 

Lewis behind us, and Mel Watt, a member of the Judiciary Committee and, as well, Chairman of the congressional Black Caucus. 

We have enjoyed, as this hearing demonstrates, unprecedented 

levels of bipartisan support in Congress in 1970, 1975 and 1982, 

and I believe that all of us together can move through the closing 

months of this 109th session to accomplish what all America, and 

indeed in some respects all the world is waiting to see, if we can 

get this through and also keep the measure as strong as it was 

when it was passed in 1965. 

In 1965, of course, the civil rights era was in full bloom. In sitins and marches across the South, in response to massive resistance to the call for equal rights and voter rights, brave Americans 

of different races and religions risked their lives to stand up for political equality. 

So today, as the Senate commences the process of reauthorizing 

the Act, its importance to opening the political process for all 

Americans is beyond doubt or challenge. Across the Nation, the 

number of people of color and minorities elected to Federal, State 

and local offices has increased tremendously in the last 40 years, 

further opening the political process. 

It is not an overstatement to call the Voting Rights Act the keystone of our Nation’s array of civil rights statutes. And against this 

8

historical backdrop, we view our hearings and the larger reauthorization process as an opportunity to take stock of where we are 

and, if necessary, to make adjustments that will protect and restore the Act just as we have done in the past. 

As Chairman Sensenbrenner has noted, we pay particular attention to the pre-clearance provisions of Section 5 and the language 

minority provisions of Section 203. However, we also focus on some 

less well-known examiner and observer provisions which are designed to ensure fair access to the polls. 

Our inquiry broke down into two fundamental questions: Is there 

an adequate record of discrimination to justify reauthorization of 

the expiring provisions, and are the expiring provisions, as interpreted by the courts, still adequate to protect the rights of minority 

voters. 

While there is so much to celebrate over the last 40 years, our 

record indicates that we have not yet reached the point where the 

special provisions of the Act should be allowed to lapse. As some 

might have you believe, efforts to suppress or dilute minority votes, 

I report to you sadly, are still all too common. 

With respect to Section 5, covered jurisdictions, we found continuing patterns of discrimination in voting, as evidenced by adverse Section 2 findings, Section 5 objections, and withdrawals of 

Section 5 submissions after requests for more information from the 

Department of Justice itself. 

Similarly, with respect to Section 203, we received substantial 

testimony from the advocacy community and the Department of 

Justice, supported by its litigation record, that language minorities 

remain the victims of discrimination in voting. Most importantly, 

our record indicates that substantial native-born populations and 

other citizens still need language assistance to cast an effective ballot. 

In addition to examining whether there was continuing discrimination in voting, we also examined the impact that several Supreme Court decisions have had on Section 5’s ability to protect the 

minority community in covered jurisdictions from discriminatory 

voting changes. This inquiry was important to ensure the continuing vitality of the Voting Rights Act. 

Just as we found in 1982, after examining the negative impact 

of Mobile v. Bolden on Section 2, a straight reauthorization of the 

Act will not be sufficient to protect the rights of minority voters, 

given its evolution in the Court. Our examination focused on the 

impact of two Supreme Court cases, in particular, the Bossier Parish case, and the other case was Georgia v. Ashcroft. In another 

narrow majority, we had a discussion about whether or not we 

could have factors balance out the loss in minority voting power 

through so-called influence districts. 

So against this historical backdrop, we want you to know that we 

think that the way that we have agreed to proceed—and I want to 

thank the Chairman of this Committee—it is very, very important 

that we work as closely together, as expeditiously as possible. And 

we trust that whatever is useful in our hearings that may be used 

by this distinguished Committee will be put to full use. 

Our record with respect to this inquiry leaves us to confront the 

prospect that cases may severely limit the scope of the Act’s nonVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:19 Sep 08, 2006 Jkt 028343 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\28343.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
9

discrimination standards. And just as in 1982, we are presented 

with choices of whether to simply reauthorize the Act or to address 

the actions of the Court and restore the Act to the standard that 

was earlier intended by Congress. 

The Voting Rights Act is one of the Nation’s most important civil 

rights victories. It memorializes those who marched, struggled, and 

even died to secure the right to vote for all Americans. In the global circumstances in which we find ourselves today, we know that 

many on this planet are looking to see how effectively we can handle the responsibilities that are before both bodies. 

We owe a deliberative and thoughtful process to those who have 

risked so much in the fight for equal rights. And while we must 

applaud the substantial progress that has been made in the area 

of voting rights, we must also continue our efforts to protect the 

rights of every American voter with the reauthorization and restoration of the expiring provisions of the Act. 

The Voting Rights Act remains the crown jewel of our civil rights 

laws. We must extend the Act at full strength, and I am fully committed to do that. And I know that I speak for every Member on 

the House side of the Judiciary, and we know and trust that you, 

Mr. Chairman, and Senator Kennedy will do all in your power to 

move this very, very vital measure forward as expeditiously as you 

can. 

I thank you for this opportunity today. 

[The prepared statement of Representative Conyers appears as a 

submission for the record.] 

Chairman SPECTER. Thank you very much, Ranking Member 

Conyers. 

We share the sentiments which you two distinguished legislators 

have articulated. I have no questions. I believe the questions are 

all answered by the qualitative and quantitative introduction of 

evidence today which has been made a part of our record. 

I like the qualitative and quantitative record because we have to 

be sure that it passes muster. We do not know what the Supreme 

Court will do. When they declared portions of the violence against 

women legislation unconstitutional because of an insufficient 

record, which was voluminous, a mountain of data identified by 

Justice Souter in dissent, they said we had a defective, quote, 

‘‘method of reasoning,’’ which is incredible and insulting, candidly. 

Then when they declared the Americans With Disabilities Act 

unconstitutional in an employment discrimination case in Garrett

v. Alabama, five to four, and then, five to four, the same record 

upheld access in Tennessee v. Lane under a standard of proportion 

and congruent, plucked out of thin air, it puts us on notice that we 

had better have the kind of a record that you have produced here 

today. We thank you. 

Senator Kennedy, would you care to comment? 

Senator KENNEDY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will reserve any 

questions until our own hearings. I am very grateful for the opportunity to hear our two distinguished colleagues and understand the 

depth of their pursuit on this issue. I agree we have an important 

opportunity to take very essential and necessary action, and hopefully we can do that expeditiously. 

We thank you both for being here. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

10

Chairman SPECTER. We are committed, as we talked about earlier Chairman Sensenbrenner and Ranking Member Conyers, to 

join with you on joint introduction, bicameral introduction, and to 

meet the timetables which we have discussed. 

Senator Feingold, would you care to comment? 

STATEMENT OF HON. RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF WISCONSIN 

Senator FEINGOLD. Yes, Mr. Chairman, briefly. I am pleased to 

be here for this first hearing on the renewal of the Voting Rights 

Act. I would first like to welcome Chairman Sensenbrenner and 

Ranking Member Conyers, and thank them for being here. 

Chairman Sensenbrenner, your leadership on this issue has been 

heartening. I understand you came to this issue in 1982 as something of a skeptic, and yet you approached the issue with an open 

mind and ultimately came away with the impression that, as you 

have said, the ingenuity of the human mind is limitless when it 

comes to devising ways to rig elections or to favor certain candidates. 

In light of the evidence presented during that reauthorization 

process, you worked tirelessly to ensure the Act’s reauthorization. 

We were fortunate to have you as a champion of the Act at that 

time and we are fortunate to have you here again today as Chairman. 

I also welcome, of course, my colleague and friend, Representative Conyers. Few in this Congress have done more to advance civil 

rights than Mr. Conyers. He and I have worked closely on many 

legislative issues, including racial profiling, bankruptcy, and the integrity of our electoral process. I am, of course, not only pleased 

that you are here today, but the other distinguished colleagues 

from the House who are here with you today, underscoring the 

great importance of this. 

The Voting Rights Act has been hailed as the most important 

piece of Federal legislation in our Nation’s history, not just the 

most important piece of civil rights legislation, but the most important piece of legislation ever passed. This may well be true. It is 

from our political rights, our rights of citizenship, that all other 

freedoms flow. Without a meaningful chance to vote, there can be 

no equality before the law, no equal access to justice, to equal opportunity in the workplace or to share in the burdens and benefits 

of citizenship. 

In 1965, the year that the Voting Rights Act first passed, our Nation was failing to fulfill one of its most fundamental promises—

representation for all. At that time, African-Americans were excluded from almost all public offices in many areas of the South, 

and discriminatory election practices at the State level were having 

a devastating effect on the ability of minorities to exercise their 

right to vote. 

In response to the horrific events in Selma, Alabama, and after 

years of effort in Congress and around the country, on August 6, 

1965, the Voting Rights Act became law. Certainly, much has 

changed since then. The Voting Rights Act has allowed millions of 

minority voters to exercise their constitutional rights to participate 

fully in elections. There are a record number of African-American 

11

and Hispanic members serving in Congress today, and the number 

of minorities serving in other levels of government has increased 

dramatically as well. 

Furthermore, the Act has been amended to cover non-Englishspeaking minorities such as Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native 

Americans, Alaskan Natives and other minority groups, and has 

been used to examine and challenge new election formats that dilute minority votes. 

Unfortunately, though, obviously, as has been pointed out, we 

have much more work to do. As the record that our witnesses 

present helps to illuminate, in each election cycle many Americans 

are still disenfranchised by discriminatory redistricting plans, voter 

intimidation tactics, long lines at polling places, inadequate numbers of voting machines, and lifetime restrictions on voting rights 

for ex-felons. 

In 2007, key elements of the Voting Rights Act, including the 

Federal pre-clearance requirement, provisions related to Federal 

examiners and observers, and certain language assistance programs are due to expire. Voters should not be put in the position 

of having to re-fight the battles won in the civil rights struggle. We 

should be building on the success of the Voting Rights Act, not 

turning back the clock in the face of ongoing threats to our election 

system. 

I hope today’s hearing will be the first step in that process in the 

Senate, and I look forward to working with supporters of the Voting Rights Act on both sides of the aisle to reauthorize this Act this 

year and make sure we establish the legislative record needed to 

support it in court. 

I want to, of course, thank again the Chairman for holding this 

important hearing and thank our witnesses from across the Capitol 

for their work on this issue and for joining us today. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman SPECTER. Thank you, Senator Feingold. Thank you, 

Senator Leahy. Thank you, Senator Kennedy. And most of all, 

thank you, Chairman Sensenbrenner, and thank you, Representative Conyers. 

That concludes our hearing. 

[Whereupon, at 3:18 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

[Submissions for the record follow.]

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