Attorney General Eric Holder reaffirmed his commitment to uphold the Voting Rights Act as several states continue to challenge the bill in court. Holder told an audience of black church leaders and members of the Congressional Black Caucus that the Department of Justice is unwavering in their fight to assure that states do not reconstruct the law for themselves .Many of the states that have challenged the law have particular issue with a provision that requires any change in voting rights to be approved by the federal government. Holder believes that current stream of lawsuits that have been brought by as many as nine states in just the last two years are evidence of an aggressive and determined attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters. The Huffington Post reports:
Attorney General Eric Holder told members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Conference of National Black Churches on Wednesday that the right to vote was threatened across the country.
“The reality is that in jurisdictions across the country, both overt and subtle forms of discrimination remain all too common and have not yet been relegated to the pages of history,” Holder told the audience, made up of black church and political leaders, during a faith leaders summit in Washington.
He also reaffirmed the Justice Department’s commitment to the Voting Rights Act, and in particular, the section of the law which prohibits certain states from making changes to their election laws without first getting federal approval, and which has been the focus of several recent court challenges.
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