Political Quotes

“I was the only member of the Virginia delegation to vote for the Voting Rights Act in 1982. I attended school for 1 year in a State in which I saw things that were different than I had seen before. And there is a Simon and Garfunkel song called ``The Boxer'': ``The man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.'' We really can't disregard what has taken place in the country. Now, we may be reaching a point at which this should be looked at again. I believe there is no discrimination now in my State. I think the Judiciary Committee ought to look at this carefully, but this is not the place to do this, and it is such a sensitive issue. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act applies to jurisdictions determined to have had a history of discrimination against minority voters. Section 5 requires certain covered jurisdictions, based on the formula set forth in section 4, to pre-clear their congressional redistricting plans with either the Department of Justice or with the U.S. Court for the District of Columbia before implementation. In order to be granted pre-clearance, jurisdiction has the burden of proving that the proposed voting change neither has the purpose nor will have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color or membership in a language minority group. Litigation is pending now in the Federal District Court, including the case of Texas v.…”