John Cornyn: “later today, the Senate will vote on the latest power grab by our friends across the aisle, a bill that is called the…”

“later today, the Senate will vote on the latest power grab by our friends across the aisle, a bill that is called the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021. The most important reason to vote against this legislation is that it is clearly unconstitutional. I know it is unusual for Members of the legislative branch to make statements like that, but we do take an oath to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States, and I think it is part of our responsibility to assess the constitutionality of legislation that is being proposed and to make a judgment on whether it is constitutional or not. One reason why I say that is because the Supreme Court has made very clear that it is within the authority of the States to conduct elections, and that those elections must be run subject to the Voting Rights Act; but that is section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which applies across the entire country. One of the reasons we find ourselves in this position today is because, in 2006, our Democratic colleagues proposed an extension of the Voting Rights Act but did not update the formula by which covered States were being determined. In other words, in 2006, they did not reflect the huge improvement and advances made in minority voting strength since 1965. I think you could say without fear of contradiction that the Voting Rights Act is one of the most important and most successful pieces of legislation ever passed in this country.…”