[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 100 (Thursday, June 8, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S2019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Voting Rights Act

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today our democracy held firm against 
voter discrimination. The Supreme Court has ruled that Alabama's 
Republican-drawn congressional districts discriminate against Black 
voters, violating the Voting Rights Act and must be redrawn.
  This case is a message to every American who has struggled to cast a 
ballot or felt like their vote does not matter. Our democracy is worth 
fighting for. We can make change happen, and that is what the Voting 
Rights Act represents.
  But today's case also reminds us that Jim Crow and racial 
disenfranchisement live on to this day in ways both subtle and 
explicit. Discrimination at the ballot box is very real in today's day 
and age.
  Alabama State lawmakers intentionally tried to dilute the voices of 
Black voters through discriminatory districts. It is a good thing for 
democracy that the efforts of the Alabama lawmakers to disenfranchise 
Black voters have failed in this case.
  So, once again, the democracy held firm, but the struggle for equal 
representation, of course, continues.
  We must fight to make redistricting much fairer throughout the 
country. We must do more at the State level, and we must do more in 
Congress to pass legislation that will strengthen the Voting Rights Act 
and fight back against racial discrimination at the ballot box.
  I yield the floor.

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