Title: A 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.
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
This resolution commemorates the 55th anniversary of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Further, the Senate reaffirms its commitment to ensuring the act continues to protect the voting rights of U.S. citizens. In addition, the Senate commits itself to fully restoring Section 4 of the act (which contained a coverage formula to determine the states and jurisdictions that had to obtain preclearance before making legal changes that would affect voting rights).

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 671 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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 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.'';
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 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
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes, commemorates, and celebrates the 55th 
        anniversary of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965;
            (2) reaffirms its commitment to advancing the legacy of the 
        Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ensure the continued effectiveness 
        of the Act in protecting the voting rights of all citizens of 
        the United States;
            (3) commits itself to fully restoring section 4 of the 
        Voting Rights Act of 1965 and modernizing and strengthening the 
        Voting Rights Act of 1965 through further legislative efforts; 
        and
            (4) encourages the people of the United States to celebrate 
        the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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