Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Supreme Court’s Decision To Further Diminish The Voting Rights Act And Upend Generations Of Progress

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor following the Supreme Court's decision to further diminish the Voting Rights Act and open the door towards racial discrimination in voting, chipping away at generations of progress. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Earlier this morning, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court took another step towards resurrecting the Jim Crow South.

In a decision that, for all practical purposes, upends half a century of precedent, defies the spirit of the American civil rights movement, and reverses generations of progress toward racial justice, the right-wing Court today essentially declared it valid and appropriate for states to discriminate against racial minorities in drawing districts.

The Voting Rights Act-a law written in the blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice of Americans who marched, who fought, and died for the right to vote and to prevent racial discrimination-has been diminished once again.

The consequence of this decision is as clear as it is dangerous: fewer protections for voters, more power for politicians to draw maps that silence them, particularly historically disenfranchised voters.

Now, the conservative Court has tried to make it seem like its decision today was narrow and tailored.

But let's be very clear, in the words of Justice Kagan, this decision is a "demolition"-a demolition-of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It opens the floodgates for states across the South to redraw their Congressional districts and make voters of color essentially invisible in our democracy. By some estimates this decision could lead conservative state legislatures to draw as many as 19 additional seats that favor Republicans in the House.

So, far from being a narrow decision, this is the MAGA Court trying to give Republicans a leg up, an illegitimate leg up, in future elections.

Let me say it again: this case is the MAGA Court trying to give Republicans a leg up in future elections.

It is a knife to the heart of some of our most important civil rights legislation that past generations marched for, organized for, and bled for.

It will bring back the old, sinister practices long discarded to the dustbin of history: state legislatures diluting, erasing, and overpowering voters of color.

Shame on the high court.

Shame on the MAGA Justices rigging our elections.

This did not happen all at once. For years, this Court - beginning with Chief Justice Roberts in the awful Shelby County decision- chipped away at the Voting Rights Act, decision by decision. Chief Justice Roberts bears a lot of the blame for this awful decision.

The commitment of equal representation has been broken before-but every time, Americans have forced it back into law. Senate Democrats will fight it once again to reverse this awful, awful decision.

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