President Joe Biden says he is “disappointed” with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said, “I am deeply disappointed in today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court that undercuts the Voting Rights Act, and upholds what Justice Kagan called “a significant race-based disparity in voting opportunities.”
“In a span of just eight years, the Court has now done severe damage to two of the most important provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – a law that took years of struggle and strife to secure,” the statement continued.
The president went to say that “we should be fully enforcing voting rights laws, not weakening them” as he noted Senate Republicans’ decision to block Democrats’ sweeping election rights bill.
While he noted that what he called a “broad assault on voting rights” is “sadly not unprecedented,” he said, “It is no longer just about a fight over who gets to vote and making it easier for eligible voters to vote. It is about who gets to count the vote and whether your vote counts at all.”
Read the statement below:
President Joe Biden says he’s “deeply disappointed” in today’s SCOTUS ruling on voting rights, blasting the decision as a “broad assault against voting rights” in a statement. pic.twitter.com/pcUXdU8OQ9
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) July 1, 2021
In a 6-3 ruling on Thursday, the court’s conservative justices let stand two provisions of the state’s law that invalidate ballots cast in the wrong precinct and bans the practice known as “ballot harvesting,” which lets third parties collect and return ballots.
Democrats claimed the provisions disproportionately impact minority voters.
Biden noted that the Suprme Court’s decision “does not limit Congress’ ability to repair the damage done today.”
Rather, “It puts the burden back on Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act to its intended strength.”
Finally, he said, “That means forging a coalition of Americans of every background and political party — from advocates, activists, and business executives — to raise the urgency of the moment and demand that our democracy truly reflects the will of the people and that it delivers for the Nation.