Democracy's Last Line of Defense

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Tommy Vietor
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If H.R. 1 doesn’t pass, Wisconsin and Tony Evers will likely be the last line of defense against Republicans’ assault on democracy. via @benwikler

Democracy's Last Line of Defense | Crooked Media
If H.R. 1 doesn’t pass, Wisconsin and Tony Evers will likely be the last line of defense against Republicans’ assault on democracy.
crooked.com
10:17 AM · Mar 8, 2021

https://crooked.com/articles/wisconsin-democracy-defense/

When Joe Biden took the oath of office six weeks ago, I imagine many Democrats in other states were excited to stop worrying about Wisconsin and Arizona for a few years.

I have bad news.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard a case that is ostensibly about specific changes to Arizona’s voting laws. In practice, however, experts fear that the Court’s 6-3 conservative majority will use it as a vehicle to gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act.

H.R.1., the urgently-needed For The People Act, would repair the damage—but faces challenging prospects. If the Court strikes and H.R. 1 doesn’t pass, Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) will likely be the last line of defense against Republicans’ assault on democracy in Wisconsin and, with it, America.

For nearly half a century, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected Americans from discriminatory election laws. Then, in 2013, in a party-line 5-4 ruling, the Court’s Republican-appointed justices abruptly dismantled some of the Act’s core components. One of the Act’s most powerful measures was its requirement that states with a history of voter suppression submit proposed election law changes to the U.S. Department of Justice for review prior to enactment. The Supreme Court zapped this rule, changing the law such that discriminatory policies could only be challenged after they had already harmed voters. Now, Republicans have their sights set on the rest of the Act—asking the Court to allow draconian voting restrictions regardless of how egregiously or plainly they advantage white or wealthy voters over everyone else.

*snip*