[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 39 (Monday, March 9, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1331-S1332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SELMA MARCHES

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise today on the 50th anniversary of 
the Selma marches and to call on Congress to come together to protect 
all Americans' sacred right to vote.
  In March of 1965, thousands of Americans came together in Alabama to 
march the 54-mile highway from Selma to the State capital of 
Montgomery. They marched in defiance of the segregationist repression 
in the Jim Crow South. They marched to demand that Black American 
citizens be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
  On March 7, 1965, 50 years ago this week, some 600 civil rights 
marchers headed east of Selma on U.S. Route 80. That day, March 7, 
would go down in history as Bloody Sunday. They got as far as the 
Edmund Pettus Bridge, 6 blocks away, where State and local law 
enforcement attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas and drove them 
back into Selma.
  This photo reflects the scene on the bridge where John Lewis and 
others were being struck down with batons. Images of peaceful marchers 
brutally attacked by uniformed State troopers were broadcast worldwide. 
Seeing how peaceful activists who sought to ensure the franchise were 
treated by the very law enforcement officers sworn to uphold the law in 
Selma shocked the conscience of Americans everywhere and began an 
awakening that would ultimately lead to the passage of the 1965 Voting 
Rights Act.
  Two days later, on March 9, Martin Luther King, Jr., led a symbolic 
march to the same bridge where they were confronted by State troopers. 
Still awaiting requested Federal protection, and seeking to minimize 
the risk of additional violence, Dr. King turned the marchers around 
and led them back to the church where they had started.
  Dr. King knew the threat of Jim Crow had to be stopped by the law, so 
he sought Federal court protection for a third full-scale march from 
Selma to the State capital in Montgomery. Ruling in favor of the 
demonstrators, Federal District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., 
wrote:

       The law is clear that the right to petition one's 
     government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in 
     large groups . . . and these rights may be exercised by 
     marching, even along public highways.

  On Sunday, March 21, 2 weeks after Bloody Sunday, approximately 3,200 
marchers set out for Montgomery, walking 12 miles a day and sleeping in 
fields. By the time they reached the capital on Thursday, March 25, 
they were 25,000 strong.
  As Dr. King said standing in front of the capital that day:

       Selma, Alabama became a shining moment in the conscience of 
     man. If the worst in American life lurked in its dark 
     streets, the best of American instincts arose passionately 
     from across the nation to overcome it.

  Less than 5 months after the last of the three marches, President 
Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965--landmark 
legislation that fundamentally transformed voting rights in the United 
States, particularly in the Jim Crow South.
  As Americans, we all owe a debt of gratitude to those who marched, 
those who bled, and in some cases those who died, to transform the 
Voting Rights Act from a bill into a reality.
  This past weekend a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers 
traveled to Selma, AL, to join President Obama and former President 
Bush in honoring those brave Americans who worked tirelessly and at 
great personal cost to secure equal rights for all citizens regardless 
of their race. As our Nation thinks about their tremendous patriotism 
and sacrifice this month, it is a particularly appropriate time to talk 
about the role Congress can play in safeguarding the hard-won rights of 
minority voters by working to restore the integrity of the Voting 
Rights Act.
  The oath of office that each of us takes when we become a Senator is 
to ``support and defend the Constitution''--and that means supporting 
and defending voting rights, which are explicitly enumerated in our 
U.S. Constitution.

[[Page S1332]]

  In her dissent in 2013, the Shelby County case, Justice Ginsberg 
highlighted the legislature's heightened responsibility where the 
protection of citizens' access to polls is a concern, writing that when 
it is confronting ``the most constitutionally invidious form of 
discrimination, and the most fundamental right in our democratic 
system, Congress's power to act is at its height.''
  Well, over the past 50 years Congress has indeed acted. We have 
worked on a bipartisan basis to ensure that our citizens do not face 
discrimination at the polls.
  In 1965, in response to a slew of violent attacks against civil 
rights activists, culminating in the attack on peaceful marchers 
crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, we passed the Voting Rights Act, a 
bill that aimed to ``remedy 95 years of pervasive discrimination in 
voting rights, which [had] resulted in the almost complete 
disenfranchisement of minorities in certain areas of the country.'' 
That act has been rightfully cited as a ``crown jewel'' of America's 
civil rights laws, and for the past 50 years it has expanded minority 
participation in elections by removing first-generation barriers to 
ballot access, such as literacy tests and poll taxes. Moreover, the law 
also helped to tackle so-called second-generation barriers to voting, 
such as voter ID requirements, elimination or curtailment of early 
voting, voter registration restrictions, and residency restrictions.
  Since the act was passed in 1965, Congress has again and again 
reaffirmed its commitment to equality in Federal elections by 
reauthorizing the law in 1970, 1975, 1982, and most recently in 2006 
when we voted to extend it for another 25 years. That 2006 vote was not 
a close one. The bill enjoyed what the press described as 
``overwhelming bipartisan backing,'' passing the House by a vote of 390 
to 33 and by a Senate vote of 98 to 0. That is pretty persuasive 
bipartisan backing for taking on the most invidious form of 
discrimination--discrimination in the right to vote. That vote 
represented a strong affirmation that equality is not a partisan issue. 
We can and we have worked together to ensure that all Americans are 
able to participate in our democracy by exercising their right to vote.
  Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of 
the Voting Rights Act 2 years ago in 2013. So now it is once again 
Congress's duty--our duty--to work together to reform the Voting Rights 
Act. To anyone who doubts the continued need for a robust Voting Rights 
Act, I submit the following:
  In 2006, while sections 4 and 5 were still in effect, the House 
Judiciary Committee found that the Voting Rights Act was still a 
critical tool for countering discrimination. The committee observed 
that ``discrimination today is more subtle than the visible methods 
used in 1965. However, the effect and results are the same, namely a 
diminishing of the minority community's ability to fully participate in 
the electoral process and to elect their preferred candidates of 
choice.''
  That report further found that ``despite the substantial progress 
that has been made'' since the Voting Rights Act was first passed in 
1965, ``the evidence [of discrimination] before the Committee 
resemble[d] the evidence before Congress in 1965, and the evidence that 
was present again in 1970, 1975, 1982 and 1992.''
  The behavior of various States in the aftermath of the 2013 Shelby 
County ruling highlighted the critical role that sections 4 and 5 
played in protecting minority voters. For example, as the Brennan 
Center for Justice noted on the same day the Supreme Court issued its 
decision, Texas officials announced it would implement a draconian 
photo ID law which had been blocked by section 5 because of its racial 
impact. Initial estimates suggested that it would impact 600,000 to 
800,000 registered voters in Texas who did not have a government-issued 
photo ID.
  Texas was not alone. North Carolina quickly enacted a series of laws 
that drastically restricted voters' access to the polls by imposing a 
strict photo ID requirement, significantly reducing early voting and 
limiting the timeframe for voter registration--so three different 
measures.
  It is particularly telling that North Carolina legislators 
deliberately waited for the Supreme Court to strike down the 
preclearance requirements of section 5 to propose the legislation, 
understanding that laws with such a discriminatory effect would likely 
not pass muster under the Voting Rights Act.
  In North Carolina, more than 300,000 registered voters lacked a DMV-
issued ID. Of those, one-third were African American.
  In 2008, the vast majority of African Americans--70 percent--who 
voted in North Carolina voted during the early voting period. So North 
Carolina's significant reduction in early voting was cynically 
calculated to reduce the turnout of African Americans at the polls.
  These States are not alone. The Brennan Center for Justice found that 
in the aftermath of the Shelby County case, ``at least 10 of the 15 
states that had been covered in whole or in part by section 5 
introduced new restrictive legislation that would make it harder for 
minority voters to cast a ballot.''
  Simply put, these States' behavior shows that access to our 
fundamental right--the right of every citizen to be heard through 
elections--is suffering in the wake of the Shelby County decision.
  We cannot let our civil rights laws return to once again being, as 
Dr. King said before the passage of the Voting Rights Act, mere 
``dignity without strength.'' We owe it to those who sacrificed before 
us, who sacrificed to form a more perfect Union, to work together on a 
bipartisan basis to restore the Voting Rights Act.

  I stand ready to work with any of my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle in this esteemed body to make that happen. I hope every Senator 
feels the same and understands that access to the polls--the right to 
vote--is the throbbing heart of a democracy, and without that the 
democracy is deeply damaged.
  Fifty years ago this month, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said at the 
foot of the Montgomery capitol: ``The battle is in our hands.'' Today, 
in Congress, in the U.S. Senate, the battle is in our hands. It is our 
responsibility to debate and pass such legislation to protect and 
defend the right to vote for every American.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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