getting them through in a way that will withstand supreme court scrutiny. we have seen this supreme court over the last eight years gut the voting rights act, make it very, very difficult to preclear anything. that s off the table ever since the shelby decision. and now, just a couple weeks ago they re making it virtually impossible to win a voting rights lawsuit. north carolina has seen these voting rights lawsuits. i filed these voting rights lawsuits. we have got to make sure that our federal law protects people before the law goes into effect, that section 5, and lets us sue afterwards. we had to do that and get our monster voting law struck down because it targeted african-americans with surgical precision. i am going to use every legal skill i have, every advocacy
there is a possibility of carving out an exception for voting rights. it s such a key constitutional value as reverend warnock said at ebenezer church on sunday, every vote is a prayer. you can also, and senator manchin has indicated a willingness to look at a standing filibuster where we forced our colleagues to stand there a day after day after day. that is ultimately our civil rights legislation. there s the john lewis act, and the house are starting hearings right away this fall to get the data that we need to put forward an expansion of the voting rights act after the supreme court shut it down in the shelby decision. major pieces of it. you can also add to that bill. then we have, right in front of us, the two infrastructure packages. i m not talking about the bipartisan one but that s continuing to proceed. but this is the one that will include housing and childcare. you can include and election infrastructure, rachel. and you can tie incentives from
the question is, will they do anything? we discuss with a key player, senator joe manchin. thank you so much for being on prime time. good to be with you, chris. let s start with the big headline. the supreme court says arizona law changes in terms of having to show up at the right ballot place on election day or it doesn t count and limiting the number of people who can collect ballots to care workers, close family, those are not unconstitutional. you see that mitch mcconnell doesn t believe in the john lewis act. so this combination means what for the protection of voting rights in this country in your opinion? well, first of all, the shelby decision was back in 2013, chris. we should have been working on this and never came up to the
packed the court on two different occasions over the past several years. we can also look to the fact that the size of the supreme court has changed seven times before in our nation s history. this is a deeply american concept. it is rooted in article one of the constitution. congress has the authority to do precisely this. and it is necessary to have a majority of people on the court who are pro-democracy. this isn t about republicans versus democrats. justices john paul excuse me, john paul and souter were justices. that is the message. if you care about saving american democracy, if you care about a court that will uphold the voting rights act which was nearly unanimously reauthorized in 2006 but yet gutted anyway by a 5-4 majority in 2013 in that shelby decision, you ought to be deeply concerned about the state of affairs when there is even more partisan 6-3 conservative majority on the court that has not seen a voter suppression law
voting rights which is a huge piece of this. but one piece. you also have the justice department issuing guidance, later-this year, when it comes to re-districting. an effort to limit gerrymandering. this will be the first redistricting process since the supreme court hollowed out parts of the voting rights act. just how aggressive do you believe republicans are going to be this fall when they re redrawing those maps? oh, well, we ve already seen this. this has been the game plan. we ve seen this, you know, time and time, again. look at wisconsin. look at texas, for that matter. and so, i think that i don t know that people can be much more aggressive than they, already, are being. and especially, now, utilizing software which makes it possible to draw districts with the kind of surgical precision. and so and to create deficits, essentially, for the opposing party. and so, this is, you know, really the ball game. when we talk about democracy being at stake. it s not hyperbole. an