Thread by @Greg_Palast

These are the only states that would be policed under the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act requirement to “pre-clear” new, racially biased, voting procedures, such as early voting limits:

Alabama
Georgia
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Texas
Virginia

Don’t get me wrong, the strangling of the John Lewis Act by filibuster, unlike the overhyped For the People Act, could be the death blow to a democratically elected Congress.

In 2013, Justice Kennedy said the Voting Rights Act would have been constitutional if it didn’t target specific states, a suggestion from New York City which was then under pre-clearance review.

While the new list is a rogues gallery of bad actors, there are real dangers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona & Florida, not on the list. The Democrats have to grasp that vote suppression is serious in almost every state. Ironically, Sinema may be the victim of her own obstructionism.

Even with its limitations, the John Lewis Act would’ve been a very powerful weapon.

For example, the act would absolutely have prevented Cobb County, Georgia from closing six of 11 early voting stations, all six in African-American neighborhoods. gregpalast.com/georgias-cobb-…

So what now? While Attorney General Merrick Garland his filed suits against parts of Georgia’s new Jim Crow SB 202, action so far is slow, limited, and scatter shot.

One big problem: President Biden said, on CNN, he wouldn’t use his political clout to end the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. gregpalast.com/biden-refuses-…

To paraphrase Ben Franklin, those who trade democracy for a budget boost deserve neither. Bluntly, Joe, if you don’t protect voters in GA, AZ & PA, you lose Congress. Then you will spend your last 2 years in office watching your progressive goals drowned like unwanted kittens.