department is alleging in its complaint in this lawsuit. let me bring in right now cnn justice correspondent jessica schneider and senior analyst laura coates. how significant is this, laura? it is extremely. i actually worked in the voting rights section of the civil rights division in the department of justice and it is extraordinary that they are taking this action. not because the facts do not lend itself to this. but the fact that they re trying to ensure that what is left of the voting rights act, the idea of protecting people against the infringement of voting rights on the basis of color and other factors is not going to be infringed. and we heard from merrick garland where he promised to essentially say even without section five, he was going to use all of the available tools for the justice department to talk about these issues. and here we have section two which essentially said you cannot craft laws with an efforts on any eye to undermine vote on the basis of race and
just voter i.d., but if we look at some of the things that they are that he recommended, it is really about what goes to the heart of the republican party which is states rights. mitch mcconnell is clear that the feds did not need to be in the business of protecting voting rights. that should be left at the state level. and what they did, what he did in his compromise, that he would weaken the department of justice authority to be in the middle of these voting rights. we know that the biden administration just as they were doubling the lawyers in the voting rights section, and we need the federal government on our side. and i want to put it in perspective because the urgent city is here. the house is on fire. we have a supreme court that is getting ready to decide a very important voting rights case which could kill the voting rights act in the next couple weeks. redistricting is coming up and the congressional elections in
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Last week, the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, made a speech before personnel of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and in it, he announced himself and the Justice Department as Democrat Party operatives. I caution you before you start the video that watching it in its entirety will likely result in tremendous health benefits if you happen to suffer from insomnia.
His speech focused on the work of the Voting Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, and the steps he was taking to enhance the resources and activities of the Voting Rights Section. But in doing so, he made it clear that the work of DOJ would be to advance the causes and interests of the Democrat Party for the purpose of improving its chances at the ballot box.
i mean, i m very glad that this is a top priority at the justice department. i m really glad that after four years of the trump administration basically leaving the voting rights section of the civil rights division shut down, i m glad to hear garland is about putting more resources into it. i m not sure how much they will be able to do right now. one of the things that s really interesting is they will be doubling the amount of staffers they have, working on voter right enforcement. but no one knows how many are actually working there right now. i tried to ask the department of justice yesterday. haven t gotten an answer yet. new york times doesn t know. so i want to see how much how much resources is garland going to pour into this because it is going to be a lot, between the scrutinizing of the new laws they re talking about, when it was stripped away by the supreme
i mean, i m very glad that this is a top priority at the justice department. i m really glad that after four years of the trump administration basically leaving the voting rights section of the civil rights division shut down, i m glad to hear garland is about putting more resources into it. i m not sure how much they will be able to do right now. one of the things that s really interesting is they will be doubling the amount of staffers they have, working on voter right enforcement. but no one knows how many are actually working there right now. i tried to ask the department of justice yesterday. haven t gotten an answer yet. new york times doesn t know. so i want to see how much how much resources is garland going to pour into this because it is going to be a lot, between the scrutinizing of the new laws they re talking about, when it was stripped away by the supreme court. they will be looking at redirecting now that this is the first cycle for redirecting where the states decid