{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://nikemawilliams.house.gov/posts/congresswoman-nikema-williams-ambassador-andrew-young-the-right-to-vote-and-fair-representation-is-worth-fighting-for-again", "Congresswoman Nikema Williams & Ambassador Andrew Young: \u201cThe Right to Vote and Fair Representation is Worth Fighting for \u2014 Again\u201d", "2026-06-16", "2026", "2026-06", "Democrat", "House", "GA", "Nikema Williams", "W000788", "nikemawilliams.house.gov", "nikemawilliams", "https://nikemawilliams.house.gov/press", "scraper", "As published by the Atlanta Journal Constitution:\n\nOn April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled the Voting Rights Act, setting off a wave of attacks on Black representation and Black communities\u2019 ability to elect Black leaders across the South.\n\nIn the court case of Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court ruled that the drawing of a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana to remedy previous racial gerrymandering constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.\n\nThe Supreme Court also ruled that to prove racial gerrymandering, the plaintiff must prove racial intent and must \u201cdisentangle\u201d racial intent from partisan motives.\n\nThis essentially gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, by making it much harder for Black voters to prove racial gerrymandering.\n\nSouthern \u2018domino effect\u2019\n\nWhat followed was a domino effect of Southern states attempting to silence Black voters.\n\nFlorida passed its redrawn map and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the map into law on May 4. Tennessee\u2019s new map, which eliminated their only majority Black congressional district, was signed into law on May 7. Louisiana drew a new map with only one majority Black congressional district and was signed into law on May 29. On June 2, the Supreme Court ruled that Alabama could move forward with a congressional district map containing only one majority-Black district instead of its current two.\n\nOn May 13, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called state lawmakers back for a special session to redraw our own state\u2019s congressional and state legislative district lines. The special session begins in the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday and we could have new, racist maps signed into law on Juneteenth itself.\n\nThis is not a Southern issue or a Black issue; it impacts us all. An attack on Black political power threatens democracy for everyone. Right now, they are targeting Black representation in the South, but tomorrow it could be a blue district in any state.\n\n\u2018This is our Civil Rights Movement\u2019\n\nIf you have ever wondered what you would\u2019ve done during the Civil Rights Movement, now is the time to find out.\n\nThis is our Civil Rights Movement.\n\nSo, why are Republicans doing this now? Because they\u2019re taking advantage of a Supreme Court filled with Trump yes-men who are willing to go directly against law and precedent to create policies that suit Trump\u2019s agenda \u2014 a deeply unpopular agenda. And Republicans know how unpopular it is.\n\nAlmost half of all Americans feel they\u2019re worse off financially than they were last year. Republicans let Affordable Care Act subsidies expire and increased healthcare costs for millions across the country. Working families are paying the cost of Trump\u2019s illegal war on Iran at the gas pump. And a majority of Americans feel like Trump\u2019s violent ICE has gone too far.\n\nRepublicans know their agenda is unpopular. So, they\u2019re attacking the right to vote.\n\nThe attack isn\u2019t limited to our congressional district lines. Republicans have engaged in a broader effort to restrict access to the ballot box and undermine confidence in our elections.\n\nThey have spread disinformation about candidates and election results, raided the Fulton County Election Hub and Operations Center to stoke fear, attacked mail-in voting, and threatened to put ICE at voting locations.\n\n\u2018We have fought this fight before\u2019\n\nThe fight for the Voting Rights Act and the modern day attacks show that the fight for democracy never ends but evolves.\n\nRather than limiting people\u2019s ability to vote and elect leaders who represent them, we should be strengthening and protecting these rights. Congress should pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act.\n\nCongress should also pass one of the most comprehensive voting rights legislative packages in congressional history, which I, Congresswoman Nikema Williams, introduced this Congress. This legislation would address every aspect of voting, voter registration and election administration to ensure that every eligible voter who wants to participate in a federal election can do so with confidence that their vote will be counted.\n\nWe must also pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which would create broad opportunities to vote before and on Election Day, make Election Day a holiday, expand voter protections to underserved communities and ban partisan gerrymandering nationwide.\n\nOur friend and fellow Fighting Fifth Representative, Congressman John Lewis told us, \u201cOurs is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.\u201d\n\nThe struggle to pass the Voting Rights Act, the struggle for Black representation in Congress, the struggle for fair representation is alive and well ahead of Georgia\u2019s special session to redistrict.\n\nIf you care about healthcare, affordability, the environment, civil rights, or whatever issue keeps you up at night, then you should care about voting rights.\n\nWe have fought this fight before, and we will fight it again. The battle for fair representation takes place in Congress, in the courts and in our communities. Georgia\u2019s future of congressional representation is at stake. Voters should choose who will represent them \u2014 not the other way around.", 1, "2026-06-17T06:49:24Z", "2026-06-17T06:50:53Z"]], "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://nikemawilliams.house.gov/posts/congresswoman-nikema-williams-ambassador-andrew-young-the-right-to-vote-and-fair-representation-is-worth-fighting-for-again"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3818719889968634, "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"}