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Letitia James: We Cannot Afford to Abandon the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court’s decision is a cruel blow to our democracy. But our efforts to ensure that every American has the representation and resources they deserve will not stop.

Last month, I joined the annual march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama—the place where, 61 years earlier, on Bloody Sunday, John Lewis and other giants of the civil rights movement endured the crush of batons and the burn of tear gas in defense of their right to vote.  

Later, as I stood in the pulpit of Selma’s Brown Chapel, I shared the weight of my ancestors’ sacred struggle. Those Americans fought for their fair share of our democracy, and specifically, their fair share of the resources and rights democracy affords to those who are justly represented in government. In return, they faced violence, racism, and countless other indignities.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais dishonored the legacy of those proud Americans, and the hard-won rights they secured, by eroding our ability to challenge discrimination at the voting booth. The court’s slow but steady dismantling of both the Civil Rights Act and now the Voting Rights Act disenfranchises millions of Americans and undermines the key achievements of the civil rights movement.

But make no mistake: This institutional injustice will not deter our efforts to ensure that every American has the representation and resources they deserve. Despite the hardships, the heroes of the civil rights movement encountered, they marched on. So must we. We cannot afford not to.

I carry the mantle of their sacrifice on behalf of New Yorkers, and I fight every day to preserve the fairness and integrity of our elections. I do so not to promote some vague ideal of American democracy but because I know from experience that voting is the central mechanism by which Americans can address the affordability and quality-of-life issues they experience every day.

I first ran for office because my neighbors in Brooklyn felt like they had been left out of the sunshine of opportunity. They were looking for someone to fight for them, to ensure that their interests were part of the conversation. Now, I go to work every day to be that person for New........

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