This is not a short note. Please read through to the end. And please take action.

Let’s start with some quick history:

• The 15th Amendment — which was intended to prohibit racial discrimination in voting — was ratified in 1870.

• But after Reconstruction, blatantly racist voting laws throughout the South — backed by lynch mobs and the domestic terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan — in effect continued the disenfranchisement of Black voters.

• That went on until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — nearly a full century after the 15th Amendment — when the federal government stepped in to enforce voting rights nationwide (at least until the Supreme Court gutted that landmark legislation in 2013).

• And during all those years, whenever a politician in Washington, D.C., would propose that the federal government step in — which the 15th Amendment explicitly gave Congress the power to do — such proposals were defeated by invoking so-called “states’ rights.”

• By the way, that often involved abuse of the filibuster, which — even though it originated by accident and doesn’t even appear in the Constitution — was primarily exploited by southern senators to block civil rights policies preferred by a majority of Americans.

Now let’s look at what Senator Mitch McConnell said in an attempt to justify his objection to the For the People Act, which every single Republican in the U.S. Senate voted this week against even beginning debate on:

“I’m OK with the states sorting this sort of stuff out. … Regardless of what may be happening in some state, there’s no rationale for federal intervention. … This is not a federal issue. It oughta be left to the states.”

When it comes to voting rights, that might have been said in 1890. Or 1920. Or 1950. And those invoking states’ rights have always meant exactly the same thing.

By the way, here’s the text of the 15th Amendment, in its entirety:

Section 1. 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.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

So Mitch McConnell — the most powerful Republican in office right now — is not only echoing the outright racism of the Jim Crow era.

He is also just plain wrong. The federal government has the authority, and the duty, to step in when states are violating voting rights.

Public Citizen is fighting tooth and nail against Mitch McConnell’s rank partisanship and flagrant racism to win passage of the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (another desperately needed law that McConnell has deemed “unnecessary,” all evidence to the contrary.)

I need to know you’re with us!

Add your name if you disagree with Mitch McConnell and think the federal government actually needs to do something to protect and strengthen our democracy, including passing the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Thanks for taking action.

For justice and democracy,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. We’re also busy undoing all the damage Trump did. And, like so many nonprofits and small businesses, we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic. If you can, please make an emergency donation today to support the critical work we’re doing together or even join our popular Monthly Giving program. Thank you.
 
 
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