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Tim Scott Resorts to Twisted, Cynical Logic to Defend GOP Voter Suppression
Sen. Tim Scott’s rebuttal of Biden’s speech amplified the dark logic at the heart of the GOP’s war on voting rights
By
Senate Television/AP
WASHINGTON — Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who delivered the Republican rebuttal to President Biden’s first formal address to Congress on Wednesday, has often been touted as a conscience of the Republican caucus, one of the few black leaders in his party and a senator well-liked on both sides of the aisle. He helped sink the nomination of a Trump-era judicial nominee who had supported black voter-suppression efforts. He introduced legislation to expand the use of body cameras after a police officer shot and killed Walter Scott in 2015, and he put forward an even more substantive police-reform bill last year after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. (Democrats filibustered Scott’s most recent measure, calling it insufficient.) In some corners, Scott is seen as a future presidential contender.