{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/ranking-member-cohen-calls-more-department-justice-election-observers", "Ranking Member Cohen Calls for More Department of Justice Election Observers", "2016-10-25", "2016", "2016-10", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, today sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch expressing concern about the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s announcement that, as a result of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in the Shelby County v. Holder case, it would be severely limited in the number of election observers that it can deploy nationally to observe the November 8th election. In\u00a0Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidated a key component of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that prevented voter discrimination before it occurred.\u00a0 New voting restrictions have been put in place in 20 states since 2010, making it harder for millions of Americans to exercise their right to vote.\n\u201c\u2026While I thank the DOJ for its efforts and its genuine commitment to monitoring the upcoming elections, I note that the DOJ will not be sending observers to most of the more than a dozen states that have imposed new voting restrictions that could deny the ability of some voters to exercise their right to vote,\u201d said Congressman Cohen.\n\u2026I would encourage the DOJ to use all existing authority to protect voting rights to the maximum extent permitted by law.\nThe right to vote is absolutely central to our democracy.\u00a0 No American should ever be denied the ability to exercise that right based on unwarranted procedural barriers to voting or because of intimidation, discrimination, or for any other inappropriate reason.\u201d\nA full copy of Congressman Cohen\u2019s letter can be found here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/ranking-member-cohen-calls-more-department-justice-election-observers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8193331304937601, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}