[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1533-1534]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      VOTING RIGHTS ACT CHALLENGE

  (Mr. SCOTT of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, our right to vote is the very 
foundation of our democracy. In passing the Voting Rights Act, Congress 
relied on an extensive record of discrimination in voting.
  Section 5 is one of the act's most important provisions. It requires 
covered jurisdictions to submit planned changes in their election laws 
to Federal officials and judges for prior approval. The areas covered 
by section 5 were covered the old-fashioned way--they earned it--by 
implementing poll

[[Page 1534]]

taxes, literacy tests, gerrymandered election districts, and other 
schemes.
  If the Supreme Court invalidates section 5 in its upcoming decision 
in Shelby County v. Holder, it would essentially allow jurisdictions 
with a history of discrimination to implement any discriminatory voter 
scheme and to then place the burden on the victims to raise the money 
to bring a lawsuit and to, meanwhile, suffer under the discriminatory 
scheme until the Court rules. Then, without section 5, those same 
jurisdictions could create another scheme and repeat the whole process.
  Mr. Speaker, at a time when America has staked so much of its 
international reputation on the need to spread democracy around the 
world, we must ensure its vitality here at home and preserve section 5 
of the Voting Rights Act.

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