WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (MA-5) released the following statement on today’s Supreme Court decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee. 

“Today’s disgraceful ruling from the Supreme Court strikes a blow to a pillar of our democracy: the right to vote. America is built on the fundamental principle of one voice, one vote — that we all deserve a say in who represents us and what laws govern our lives. This decision makes it more difficult to cast a ballot and creates barriers for voters based on their race. It is antithetical to who we are and everything we should stand for as a country. 

“The ruling condones voter suppression laws and paves the way for a new Jim Crow era. That’s why it’s more important than ever that Congress pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Our democracy depends on it." 

In 2016, the Democratic Party and a group of voters sued Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and the Arizona Republican Party over policies they said were racially discriminatory: an “out-of-precinct” rule that any vote cast in the wrong polling place must be tossed out, and a ban on collecting and turning in mail ballots by anyone other than a voter’s immediate family members or caregivers. The plaintiffs argued that these rules had an outsized effect on Native American communities and communities of color, in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

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