III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 671 

Recognizing, commemorating, and celebrating the 55th anniversary of the 

enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and reaffirming the Senate’s 

commitment to ensuring the continued vitality of the Act and the protection of the voting rights of all citizens of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2020 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BENNET, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. JONES, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, 

Ms. STABENOW, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. ROSEN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. 

KAINE, Mr. CASEY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WARNER, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. BOOKER, 

Mrs. SHAHEEN, and Mr. BROWN) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing, commemorating, and celebrating the 55th anniversary of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 

1965, and reaffirming the Senate’s commitment to ensuring the continued vitality of the Act and the protection of the voting rights of all citizens of the United 

States. 

Whereas the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

marked a historic point in the ongoing struggle to achieve 

political equality, end racial discrimination, and enforce 

the voting rights guarantees enshrined in the 14th and 


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•SRES 671 IS 

15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United 

States; 

Whereas March 7, 1965, would become known as ‘‘Bloody 

Sunday’’, after nonviolent civil rights activists—including 

the late Representative John Lewis—marching across the 

Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to the State 

capital in Montgomery in support of voting rights were 

attacked and savagely beaten by State troopers and local 

lawmen; 

Whereas, on March 15, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson 

addressed a joint session of Congress concerning the violence in Selma and the denial of voting rights, saying, 

‘‘At times, history and fate meet at a single time in a 

single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending 

search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. 

So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last 

week in Selma, Alabama. . . . There is no cause for 

pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause 

for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of 

millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and 

for faith in our democracy in what is happening here tonight. . . . Experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious discrimination. No law that we now have on the 

books—and I have helped to put 3 of them there—can 

ensure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it. . . . Wednesday, I will send to Congress a law designed to eliminate illegal barriers to the 

right to vote. . . . This bill will strike down restrictions 

to voting in all elections—Federal, State, and local— 

which have been used to deny [Blacks] the right to 

vote.’’; 


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•SRES 671 IS 

Whereas a bipartisan Congress approved the Voting Rights 

Act of 1965, and on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon 

B. Johnson signed this landmark legislation into law; 

Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 effectuates the permanent guarantee of the 15th Amendment that ‘‘the 

right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 

denied or abridged by the United States or by any State 

on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude’’; 

Whereas, according to the Congressional Research Service, 

the Voting Rights Act had ‘‘an immediate and dramatic 

impact’’, and within 4 years of its passage, nearly 

1,000,000 Black voters were registered, including over 50 

percent of the Black voting age population in every 

southern State; 

Whereas, after the 1966 elections, the number of Black elected officials in the South more than doubled, from 72 to 

159; 

Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 stands as a landmark 

legislative achievement and pays tribute to the heroism of 

all those who fought to fulfill the promises guaranteed to 

them by the 14th and 15th Amendments, especially those 

whose blood was spilled and whose lives were lost; 

Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been extended 

and amended 5 times; 

Whereas, despite progress from 55 years of enforcement of 

the Voting Rights Act of 1965, voting rights are still 

under attack in the United States; 

Whereas, in its decision in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 

U.S. 529 (2013), the Supreme Court of the United 

States struck down section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 


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•SRES 671 IS 

1965, which required covered States and jurisdictions 

with a history of discriminatory voting practices to submit voting changes for ‘‘preclearance’’ before they could 

take effect; 

Whereas, since the decision in Shelby County, many States 

have passed discriminatory voting laws that have made it 

more difficult for people of color and low-income individuals to vote; 

Whereas it is vital to democracy in the United States that 

the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are fully 

effective to prevent discrimination and dilution of the 

equal rights of minority voters; and 

Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been widely 

hailed as the single most important civil rights law 

passed in the history of the United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes, commemorates, and celebrates 

3 the 55th anniversary of the enactment of the Voting 

4 Rights Act of 1965; 

5 (2) reaffirms its commitment to advancing the 

6 legacy of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ensure 

7 the continued effectiveness of the Act in protecting 

8 the voting rights of all citizens of the United States; 

9 (3) commits itself to fully restoring section 4 of 

10 the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and modernizing and 

11 strengthening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

12 through further legislative efforts; and 


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•SRES 671 IS 

1 (4) encourages the people of the United States 

2 to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Voting 

3 Rights Act of 1965. 

Æ 


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