Elijah Cummings: “I was thinking as she talked about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, in a way it is a kind of sad thing that we are even…”

“I was thinking as she talked about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, in a way it is a kind of sad thing that we are even standing here talking about this, talking about guaranteeing the right to vote and to have a vote counted here in 2004. But we do and we have to stand up. Every second January, come January, we put up our right hand and we swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and part of that Constitution is our right to vote. So I am very pleased that the gentleman from North Carolina has joined us. The next chairman of our Congressional Black Caucus, who is, without a doubt, one who has consistently looked at our Constitution very carefully, as the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) has. And whenever there was what might appear as a violation of that Constitution, they have consistently raised that on the floor of this great House. And I think history will go down and it will be written, and maybe hundreds of years from now somebody may just be flipping through some pages and hear about members of the Congressional Black Caucus, particularly those in the Committee on the Judiciary, standing up for what they believe in.”