More about the Brennan Center’s efforts to strengthen the Voting Rights Act can be found here.
Testimony
John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act Testimony
Congressional hearings and testimony in support of the Voting Rights Advancement Act.
The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2023/4 (S. 4, H.R. 14)
Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on The Right Side of History: Protecting Voting Rights in America – March 12, 2024
Panel 1
- Testimony of The Honorable Wesley Hunt (TX-38)
- Testimony of The Honorable Reverend Raphael Warnock (GA)
Panel 2
- Testimony of Hans von Spakovsky, Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation
- Testimony of Maureen Riordan, Litigation Counsel at Public Interest Legal Foundation
- Testimony of Lydia Camarillo, President of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
- Testimony of Sophia Lin Lakin, Director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union
- Testimony of Damon T. Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Brennan Center Statement for the Record
The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (H.R. 4)
Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Protecting a Precious, Almost Sacred Right: The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – October 6, 2021
Panel 1
Panel 2
- Testimony of Wendy Weiser, Vice President of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice
- Testimony of Jon Greenbaum, Chief Counsel and Senior Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Testimony of Hon. Todd Rokita, Attorney General for the State of Indiana
- Testimony of Hon. Ken Cuccinelli, National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative
House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Hearing on Oversight of the Voting Rights Act: Potential Legislative Reforms – August 16, 2021
- Hearing Video
- Testimony of Wendy R. Weiser, Vice President of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice
- Testimony of Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice
- Testimony of Jon M. Greenbaum, Chief Counsel and Senior Deputy Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Testimony of Wade Henderson, Interim President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- Testimony of Sophia Lin Lakin, Deputy Director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union
- Testimony of James Peyton McCrary, Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University Law School
- Testimony of Maureen Riordan, Litigation Counsel at the Public Interest Legal Foundation
- Testimony of Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- Testimony of Samuel Spital, Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Hearing on the Implications of Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee and Potential Legislative Responses – July 16, 2021
- Hearing Video
- Testimony of Sean Morales-Doyle, Acting Director for Voting Rights and Elections of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice
- Testimony of Ezra Rosenberg, Co-Director of the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Testimony of Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Elections Hearing on Voting in America: A National Perspective on the Right to Vote, Methods of Election, Jurisdictional Boundaries, and Redistricting – June 24, 2021
- Hearing Video
- Testimony of Michael Waldman, President of the Brennan Center for Justice
- Testimony of Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, Director of the Indian Legal Clinic at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
- Testimony of Sara Frankenstein, Partner at Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore LLP
- Testimony of Thor Hearne, Founding Partner at the True North Law Group
- Testimony of Wade Henderson, Interim President & CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- Testimony of Eric H. Holder Jr., Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee
- Testimony of Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- Testimony of Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- Testimony of Jerry Vattamala, Director of the Democracy Program at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Hearing on Oversight of the Voting Rights Act: A Continuing Record of Discrimination - May 27, 2021
- Hearing Video
- Testimony of Wendy Weiser, Vice President of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice
- Testimony of Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- Testimony of Jon M. Greenbaum, Chief Counsel and Senior Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 (H.R. 4)
Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Elections Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in America – October 17, 2019
- Hearing Video
- Testimony of Michael Waldman, President of the Brennan Center for Justice
- Testimony of Barbara Arnwine, Co-Chair of the National Commission for Voter Justice
- Testimony of Michelle Bishop, Voting Rights Specialist at the National Disability Rights Network
- Testimony of Kristen Clarke, President & Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Testimony of Hannah Fried, Director of All Voting Is Local
- Testimony of Dale Ho, Director of the Voting Rights Project
- Testimony of Virginia Kase, CEO of the League of Women Voters
- Testimony of Catherine E. Lhamon, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Testimony of Denise Lieberman, Senior Attorney and Director of the Power and Democracy Program at the Advancement Project
- Testimony of Elena Nunez, Director of State Operations & Ballot Measure Strategies at Common Cause
- Testimony of Deuel Ross, Senior Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- Testimony of Thomas Saenz, President & Senior Counsel of MALDEF
- Testimony of Arturo Vargas, CEO of the NALEO Education Fund
- Testimony of Brenda Wright, Senior Advisor for Legal Strategies at Demos
- Testimony of John C. Yang, President & Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice
House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Legislative Proposals to Strengthen the Voting Rights Act – October 17, 2019
- Hearing Video
- Testimony of Hon. Terri A. Sewell, Member of Congress
- Testimony of Dr. J.M. (Morgan) Kousser, Professor of History and Social Science at California Institute of Technology
- Testimony of Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- Testimony of Bryan Tyson, Partner at Taylor English Duma LLP
- Testimony of Bryan Sells, Attorney and Managing Member at The Law Office of Bryan L. Sells, LLC.
- Testimony of John Eastman, Henry Salvatori Professor of Law and Community Service at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law
- Testimony of Arturo Vargas, Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund
- Testimony of John Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice
- Testimony of Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal and Educational Fund
House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Evidence of Current and Ongoing Voting Discrimination – September 10, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Myrna Pérez, Director of the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice
- Testimony of Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP
- Testimony of Vanita Gupta, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- Testimony of J. Christian Adams, President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation
- Testimony of Dale Ho, Voting Rights Project Director at the ACLU
- Testimony of Natalie A. Landreth, Senior Staff Attorney at the Native American Rights Fund
House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Hearing on the Voting Rights Act – June 25, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Stacey Abrams, Founder and Chair of Fair Fight Action
- Testimony of Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Testimony of Kyle Hawkins, Solicitor General of Texas
- Testimony of Leah Aden, Deputy Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund
Committee on House Administration Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in Alabama – May 13, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of James Blacksher, Attorney
- Testimony of Jenny Carroll, Professor of Law at the University of Alabama Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law
- Testimony of Ernest Montgomery, Council Member of Calera City Council
- Testimony of Nancy Abudu, Deputy Legal Director, Voting Rights at the Southern Poverty Law Center
- Testimony of Scott Douglas, Executive Director of Greater Birmingham Ministries
- Testimony of Isabel Rubio, Executive Director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama
- Testimony of Benard Simelton Jr., President of the Alabama Conference of the NAACP
Committee on House Administration Voting Rights and Election Administration in Florida – May 6, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Anjenys Gonzales-Eilert, Executive Director of Common Cause Florida
- Testimony of Marleine Bastien, Executive Director of Family Action Network
- Testimony of Nancy Batista, Florida State Director of Mi Familia Vota
- Testimony of Andrew Gillum, Chair of Forward Florida
House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on Enforcement of the Voting Rights Act in the State of Texas – May 3, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Ernest Herrera, Staff Attorney at MALDEF
- Testimony of Gary Bledsoe, President of the NAACP Texas State Conference
- Testimony of Jayla Allen, Chair of Rock the Vote
- Testimony of Michael Morley, Assistant Professor at Florida State University College of Law
- Testimony of Mimi Marziani, President of the Texas Civil Rights Project
- Testimony of Jerry Vattamala, Democracy Program Director at the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund
- Testimony of Jose Garza, Attorney at Garza Golando Moran PLLC
Committee on House Administration Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in Ohio – April 25, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Naila Awan, Senior Counsel at Demos
- Testimony of Mike Brickner, Ohio State Director of All Voting is Local
- Testimony of Daniel Ortiz, Outreach Director at Policy Matters Ohio
- Testimony of Tom Roberts, President of the Ohio Conference of the NAACP
- Testimony of Elaine Tso, Interim Co-Chief Executive Officer of Asian Services in Action
- Testimony of Inajo Chappell, member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections
Committee on House Administration Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in North Carolina – April 18, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Rev. Dr. William Barber II, President and Senior Lecturer for Repairers of the Breach
- Testimony of Tomas Lopez, Executive Director of Democracy North Carolina
- Testimony of Irving L. Joyner, Professor of Law at North Carolina Central University School of Law
- Testimony of Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Vice-Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Testimony of Dan Blue, Minority Leader of the North Carolina State Senate
- Testimony of Caitlin Swain, Co-Director of Forward Justice
Committee on House Administration Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in the Dakotas – April 16, 2019
- Hearing Video
- Testimony of Charles Walker, Councilman at Large of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
- Testimony of Rodger White Owl, CEO of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation
- Testimony of Alysia LaCounte, General Council of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians
- Testimony of Myra Pearson, Chairwoman of the Spirit Lake Nation
- Testimony of Jacqueline De León, Staff Attorney at the Native American Rights Fund
- Testimony of Ruth Buffalo, North Dakota State Representative
- Testimony of Prairie Rose Seminole, Community Organizer
- Testimony of OJ Semans, Jr., Co-Executive Director of Four Directions
House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on the History and Enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – March 12, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Catherine Lhamon, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Testimony of Thomas Saenz, President and General Council of MALDEF
- Testimony of Dr. Peyton McCrary, Professional Lecturer in Law at George Washington University Law School
Committee on House Administration Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in Georgia – February 19, 2019
- Hearing video
- Testimony of Stacey Abrams, CEO and Founder of Fair Fight Action
- Testimony of Sean J. Young, Legal Director of the Georgia ACLU
- Testimony of Cliff Albright, Cofounder of Black Votes Matter
- Testimony of Stacey Hopkins, Fulton County Voter
- Testimony of Gilda Daniels, Director of Litigation at the Advancement Project
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