Congressman Dwight Evans (D-PA-3rd), Pennsylvania’s only African American member of Congress, issued the following statement today:
“The Supreme Court’s decision to let states have wide rein to attack voting rights is garbage. It is clear to anyone who is paying attention that the court will keep on gutting the Voting Rights Act, and that its 2013 Shelby County decision was just the start. The court also sided today against public disclosure of big ‘dark money’ that floods our politics – another disgrace.
“The House has passed the For the People Act (H.R. 1), which would expand access to the ballot box and override the new Jim Crow laws that Republican-controlled states are passing. It would also push back on the legalized corruption that the dark-money ruling allows. House members are also continuing work on a revised version of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act with an eye to withstanding court review – when that is ready, both the House and Senate must pass that as well.
“The right to vote is the foundation of all our other legal rights in America. The Supreme Court refuses to protect it, so the House has acted and the Senate must. Voting rights are far more important than the filibuster. Senator Sinema herself once spoke forcefully about the ‘false pressure’ to get 60 votes. At an absolute minimum, the Senate must make a majority-vote exception for voting rights. The people are watching.”
Evans represents Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Northwest and West Philadelphia and parts of North, South, Southwest and Center City Philadelphia.
Original source can be found here.
