On the recordJuly 26, 2021
Let me make an argument regarding where we are, and then I will be happy to yield to my coanchor and happy to conclude. Madam Speaker, I wanted to reemphasize where we are today and reemphasize that, unfortunately, a bill that had been passed as bipartisan for years has been ``upheavaled'' by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, a Supreme Court that, as my friend from New York described, is an activist Supreme Court--the Shelby Court and now the Brnovich Court, absolutely wrongheaded decisions. In Shelby, I believe the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that you don't throw away an umbrella in a rainstorm. Now, let me characterize these words and not attribute them. I think one of the other points that was made is: Just because polio is not on the rise, you don't get rid of the polio vaccine. Just because you think COVID-19 is gone, you don't throw all manner of precautions to the wind. Obviously, we see what is happening with this kind of reckless behavior and this kind of red State, blue State discord. People are dying. That is where we are with voting rights. The Shelby case in 2013 just imploded the preclearance, which in actuality says that as you begin to think about a bill that may have these discriminatory impacts, they can be precleared by the Department of Justice and stopped in their tracks. Section 2 says the harm has been done, and you can run into court making the argument that it is discriminatory.…
