This is a crucial time for American democracy — you and I both know it. I wanted to share my thoughts with you on two topics in the news right now in which CLC has been deeply involved:
First, on federal election legislation: as you may have seen, this week a united Republican caucus blocked opening debate and possible amendments and floor action on the Freedom to Vote Act, the compromise bill drafted this summer by U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and other centrist Democrats to address voting rights, redistricting, disclosure of secret money and other urgent democracy issues.
In the face of a filibuster, the 50 Democrats needed ten Republican votes to proceed to consideration of the bill — and despite Sen. Manchin’s efforts, they received zero.
While the lack of bipartisan support was unfortunately not an enormous surprise, it was still disappointing to see this reaction to the most significant voting rights bill in a generation. Polls show that 70% of Americans support the provisions of the bill.
Senate leaders have repeatedly stressed that inaction is not an option when it comes to protecting the freedom to vote, and Sen. Manchin led the writing of the Freedom to Vote Act because he has indicated he understands how important it is.
Congressional leaders need to meet this moment — which they have said is urgent — and figure out how they are going to respond to deliberate barriers to voting, to overtly partisan gerrymandering going on right now in states across the country, and to the secret spending we see in every election. Without ten Republican votes to end the filibuster, the only alternative would appear to be a narrowly-crafted exemption to the filibuster for voting rights legislation. There are currently numerous exemptions, crafted by both parties, to the filibuster. Those are the choices that lie ahead. It is tough work: we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it is important, and it matters, and we must stay the course.
Secondly, work to combat gerrymandering and advance democracy at the state and local levels continues. The federal nature of the American political system allows for action outside of Congress: states are the “laboratories of democracy,” as the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put it. At CLC, we take this to heart, and we focus much of our efforts on the state and local levels, too, for this reason. (For a recent success story, read CLC’s new report on D.C.’s small-dollar fair elections program, a program which CLC championed).
In response to the surge in partisan gerrymandering in the last decade — which impacts almost every issue Americans care about — many states took action on their own and passed reforms to promote fair map drawing, including independent redistricting commissions (IRCs) that would comprise citizen map-drawers, not politicians. This includes Michigan, whose commission CLC has successfully defended in the Sixth Circuit twice against legal challenges.
Right now, we are in the midst of the once-in-a-decade map drawing cycle, and those reforms are being put to the test. Map drawing is still going on, but one of the main positives we’ve seen so far, which I’d like to highlight, is that the IRCs are promoting more transparency and opportunity for public participation (and with that, of course, disagreement). In states that have IRCs now, this is generally an improvement from previous decades.
In the last redistricting cycle, we saw extreme gerrymanders, and politicians and their consultants drew unfair maps behind closed doors using sophisticated software. While this may very well continue to be the case in states without IRCs, the IRCs in effect this cycle are promoting more opportunities for public input, greater independence from the partisan actions of state legislators and greater transparency about proposed maps. To see a library of proposed plans and their scores for partisanship, visit CLC’s PlanScore website. CLC has also been a leader in advising states on how to ensure redistricting is fair, open and accessible.
All of this is interrelated of course — if the Freedom to Vote Act becomes law, then partisan maps would violate federal law and could again be challenged in federal courts and redrawn by those courts if necessary. But absent that federal mandate, citizens in the states will have to act on their own to end or diminish gerrymandering.
In accordance with our mission, CLC will continue to advance democracy through law, fighting for every American’s right to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process. Whether at the federal level or the state and local, the work continues. Thank you for your continued support, and I will continue to update you as we make progress toward our goal of an inclusive and accessible democracy for all.
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center is dedicated to advancing democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process.
