Let's Not Give Up On Voting Rights Just Yet

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.wonkette.com/lets-not-give-up-on-voting-rights-just-yet

When President Barack Obama spoke at the late Rep. John Lewis's funeral, he called the filibuster a “Jim Crow relic" that shouldn't stand in the way of passing necessary voting rights legislation. Democrats should honor Lewis's legacy, not Strom Thurmond's.

That should've been the last word on the filibuster, especially when it came to defending voting rights, but some key Democrats didn't get the message. Republicans are certain to block the “For the People Act," and Obama wasn't shy about reading them for filth. He's sort a subject matter expert on GOP obstruction.

During a tele-town hall with former Attorney General Eric Holder and grassroots activists, Obama slammed Republicans for using the filibuster to "stop the For the People Act from even being debated." Obama pointedly doesn't refer to a so-called “60-vote threshold," which only normalizes the filibuster. In truth, the filibuster is the result of a loophole in the Senate rules, which prior to 1917 didn't offer a method for ending debate and forcing a vote on a measure. The Senate originally required a two-thirds majority to end a filibuster, which was reduced to three-fifths (60 votes) in 1975, so the current rule is younger than I am.

Republicans naturally criticized Obama for describing the filibuster as a “Jim Crow relic," but even the Senate's official website details its shameful history in practice.

Filibusters proved to be particularly useful to southern senators who sought to block civil rights legislation, including anti-lynching bills. Not until 1964 did the Senate successfully overcome a filibuster to pass a major civil rights bill.

*snip*