President Joe Biden is facing more pressure to shepherd the passage of voting rights legislation through the Senate and on Thursday received a letter from hundreds of US faith leaders urging his party to act.
On Thursday, a group of more than 800 faith leaders including the leaders of numerous Christian, Jewish and Muslim organisations wrote to the president and congressional Democrats that “[passing] comprehensive voting rights legislation must be the number-one priority of the administration and Congress”.
“Nothing – including the filibuster – should stand in the way of passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both of which have already passed the House and await Senate action and leadership,” reads the letter.
The Democrats’ voting rights legislation likely has 51 votes in the Senate including that of Vice President Kamala Harris, but faces a roadblock in the opposition to a filibuster carve-out for the issue from two Democrats - senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.
That last sliver of resistance in the Democratic Senate caucus will likely doom any voting rights legislation, as Mr Manchin’s previous public vows to win Republican support for bipartisan voting rights legislation has come up empty handed thus far.
“The threat is that this election [in 2022] will cement the United States as a minoritarian democracy,” Prof Lessig said.
“I mean, nothing is announced, no deals have been made, blah blah blah … but I think that we’re gonna see progress [in the next month. »
