Voting Rights push. “With congressional committees poised to hold hearings this week on revisions to the Voting Rights Act in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court ruling striking down a section of the law, Attorney General Eric Holder told the NAACP convention in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday that Congress has ‘a rare and historic opportunity’ to pass legislation ‘restoring, and even strengthening modern voting protections,’” NBC News reports. “Holder also told the convention that he had directed his subordinates in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department ‘to shift resources to the enforcement of Voting Rights Act provisions that were not affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling – including Section 2, which prohibits voting discrimination based on race, color, or language – in addition to other federal voting rights laws.’”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also addressed the future of the law in a speech to the historically black sorority Delta Sigma Theta on Tuesday in D.C., telling them that the future of the VRA is in “real jeopardy,” the AP reports. “‘Unless Congress acts, you know and I know, more obstacles are on their way,’ Clinton said, walking freely on stage instead of delivering her speech from a podium. ‘They’re going to make it difficult for poor people, elderly people, working people, minority people to be able to do what we should take for granted.’”
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the law today at 1 p.m., with testimony from Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).
Obama: Keep path to citizenship. “President Barack Obama said Tuesday that an immigration bill without a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants is ‘not who we are as Americans,’ arguing that the GOP-led House should move comprehensive immigration legislation rather than the step-by-step approach favored by most House Republicans,” NBC News reports. “Asked in an interview with a Telemundo-owned Denver TV station whether he could agree with a bill that does not contain a path to citizenship, Obama said that failing to address the issue of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the legislation ‘does not make sense.’”
Jessica Taylor Recommended
