During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Sunday Show over the weekend, House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) spoke about the path ahead for voting rights. Specifically, he addressed efforts by top Democrats to enact pieces of pro-voting rights legislation including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act, both of which would bolster voting rights in their own ways. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would re-institute a requirement for the pre-approval by federal authorities of certain changes to the conducting of elections, with the hope of stopping at least some voter suppression before it starts, while the For the People Act includes a raft of provisions to make voting in federal elections more accessible.
Clyburn said that he feels as though there’s a “very good chance” that provisions of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement and For the People Acts will be combined into a single piece of legislation. Clyburn also said that he feels as though the Senate can reliably ground legislative action on voting rights in the 15th Amendment, which says 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,” and critically, that amendment adds that “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation” — such as, presumably, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act. The language of the amendment seems pretty straightforward!
Suppressive election rules often disproportionately impact marginalized communities. Asked about the chance of the voting rights legislation in question successfully moving through the Senate, Clyburn said as follows:
‘I think it’s a very good chance that we will get both those [bills] wrapped into one. I would love to see the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act being the name of a comprehensive voting rights bill by the Senate that is a combination of H.R. 4 and H.R. 1, and now S. 1. Wrap them into one piece of legislation, and then move it forward — a piece of legislation that will apply to all 50 states, that will look at the history but also look at current practices that are being put in place… We need one piece of legislation that governs the entire country when it comes to fundamental fairness and the Constitution of the United States of America. And I do believe that if the Senate were to rest its decision making firmly within the 15th Amendment, I think we’ll be safe, because this is going to be challenged all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.’
Clyburn also addressed the filibuster. Currently, filibuster rules in the Senate require the agreement of at least 60 Senators in the 100-member chamber before moving forward on most bills, although a process called budget reconciliation allows certain budget-related bills to proceed with just 51 Senators in favor. Clyburn touted the possibility of putting an exemption from the filibuster rules in place for Constitutional issues like voting rights, commenting as follows:
‘I’ve been saying for months now that the so-called reconciliation language is much more aptly applied to Constitutional issues like voting than it is to the budget. Yet we use it for the budget. I think it ought to be used for Constitutional issues as well. So I’ve never asked Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema or anybody else to walk away from the filibuster. I’ve said to them — keep the filibuster on legislative procedures; don’t ever let it apply to Constitutional rights.’
Check out Clyburn’s comments below:
.@WhipClyburn on passing federal voting rights legislation: “I do believe that if the Senate were to rest its decision making firmly within the 15th amendment I think we’ll be safe, because this is going to be challenged all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.” #SundayShow pic.twitter.com/XpjSJu3jEo
— The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@TheSundayShow) August 29, 2021
