An op-ed written by WISIR-affiliated Professor Jake Grumbach and co-author Erik Schickler was published recently in The Hill. The piece, titled “In civil rights and American democracy, Congress’s role looms large”, explores avenues through which multiracial democracy, under urgent threat, might be preserved. They argue that while the Supreme Court and the president have most often been the institutions responsible for democratic backsliding, Congress has failed to prevent or reverse that backsliding, most commonly due to inaction. This inaction not only fails to advance or protect democracy, but it can also deepen the problem: “When Congress fails to act, it signals to other political actors that all bets are off, that they have free rein to restrict the right to vote and make democracy narrower.” Yet while efforts to preserve multiracial democracy in Congress have often been frustrated by the filibuster and inaction, it has also spearheaded efforts to protect civil rights and voting rights at crucial moments in American history; they write: “the portrayal of Congress as the institutional laggard is at odds with its historical role in protecting and expanding the prospect of multiracial democracy. When one examines America’s tortured history on civil rights more fully — attentive to both moments of progress and reversal — the key institution in many ways is Congress.” Congress has thus demonstrated that it does possess the ability to protect voting rights and civil rights for all Americans and, the authors argue, it now faces an urgent imperative to do so:
“American democracy is under threat, and all signs point to Congress as the pivotal actor. As the Senate negotiates over the For The People Act and alternative bills to protect voting rights, reduce gerrymandering, and prevent election subversion, will we see the “First Branch” live up to its historical potential as a democratic champion? Or will its inaction — an echo of the Senate’s failure to defeat the filibuster of the 1890-91 Elections Bill — lead to a diminished American democracy?”
Read the full article here.
