The Case for Restoring and Updating the Voting Rights Act A Report of the American Civil Liberties Union 2019 Submitted for the Record in Support of the Voting Rights Advancement Act, H.R. 4, in the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary November 8, 2019 For further information, please contact Sonia Gill, Senior Legislative Counsel, at
[email protected]. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Sonia K. Gill, Senior Legislative Counsel, National Political Advocacy Department Dale Ho, Director, Voting Rights Project Adriel I. Cepeda Derieux, Staff Attorney, Voting Rights Project Kristen Lee, Policy Analyst, National Political Advocacy Department Marc Alexander Ault, Legal Intern, Voting Rights Project The authors thank the ACLU attorneys and staff who contributed to this report: Laughlin McDonald, Katherine Palm, Alora Thomas-Lundborg, Sophia Lin Lakin, Theresa J. Lee, Lila Carpenter, Amanda L. Scott, Juan Diaz, and Kelly M. Hernández. The ACLU extends special thanks to the law firm Sidley Austin, LLP, for the assistance provided in drafting this report, in particular Stacy Gulledge, Kelley Conaty, Joselle Albracht, Jacqueline Cooper, Angela Daniel, John Stribling, Daniel Driscoll, Sean Damm, Ellen Heighten, Jackson Long, Amy Steurer, Robert Charles Davidson, Brett Reamer, Natali Wyson, John Wisse, Whitney Price, Crystal Clark, Lindsay Guevara, Joelle Coachman, and Mark Herzog. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………………. 1 I. Historical overview ......................................................................................... 6 a. Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction b. Congressional efforts to address voting discrimination prior to 1965 c. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 d. Voting Rights Act amendments and reauthorizations: 1970-1982 e. The 2006 reauthorization II. Congressional authority to remedy racial discrimination in voting after Shelby County ................................................................................................. 20 a.