A Statement from Congressman Mac Thornberry

A Statement from Congressman Mac Thornberry

Congressman Mac Thornberry (TX-13) submitted the following statement in the Congressional Record about H.R. 9, a bill to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Representative Thornberry voted against the bill, which passed the House.

Statement in the Congressional Record

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

"It's a sordid business, this divvying up by race."

Mr. Speaker, those two sentences sum up my concerns with this bill. The first comes from the Declaration of Independence; the second from Chief Justice Roberts' opinion in League of United Latin American Citizens et al. v. Perry, a case about this very Act.

We should be moving closer to that American ideal of God-given equality before the law, rather than "divvying us up by race" for another 25 years, as this bill would do.

To have different levels of scrutiny apply to various states, based on judgments made 40 years ago that are no longer accurate or justified, is wrong. There is simply no reason to believe that Texas requires more federal supervision of voting than does Ohio or Florida or any other state. The same standard should apply equally to each person across the country, regardless of where he or she lives.

I am anxious for the day when race and skin color is as irrelevant to voting as is hair color. Unfortunately, this bill pushes that day 25 years further away.

http://www.house.gov/thornberry/news_releases/2006/June/DC_statement07-13-06.htm