Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Statement Regarding the 58th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

The Justice Department issued the following statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland ahead of the 58th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act:

“The right of all eligible citizens to vote and to elect representatives of their own choice is the foundation of our democracy.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law 58 years ago this weekend, with the goal of making real the 15th Amendment’s guarantee that no American citizen be denied the right to vote on account of race.

That law, enacted thanks to the urgent calls to action of the Civil Rights Movement, gave the Justice Department some of its most important authorities to protect the right to vote, including Section 5 of the law, its “preclearance” provision. That provision required jurisdictions with a history of suppressing voting rights to obtain preclearance from the Justice Department or a court before making any changes in voting procedures. Between 1965 and 2006, the Justice Department blocked almost 1,200 proposed voting laws in those jurisdictions in order to protect the fundamental right to vote.

With the Supreme Court’s decision Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, the Justice Department effectively lost this powerful tool. And in the wake of that decision, states across the country advanced voting measures that have made it harder for citizens to cast a vote that counts, measures that the Justice Department likely would have been able to block or deter had the preclearance provision still been in place. The Justice Department therefore continues to urge Congress to restore the tools we need to effectively protect the right to vote.

But we are not waiting for Congress to act. The Justice Department is using every authority we have to protect the franchise for all voters. We have doubled the size of the Civil Rights Division’s enforcement staff for protecting voting rights. The Department has brought voting rights cases and filed statements of interest and amicus briefs in courts across the country. We have sought to address discriminatory voting laws, to protect language access at the ballot box, and to ensure that voters with disabilities are able to exercise the right to vote. And we have provided guidance and outreach to state and local election officials and the public about federal voting rights laws.

The Justice Department will never stop working to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote, that all lawful votes are counted, and that every voter has access to accurate information. Our democracy depends on it.”