Civil Rights Leaders Meeting with Senator Joe Manchin

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 28, 2021) — The leaders of the nation’s top historic civil rights organizations released the following joint readout on their meeting today with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia:

“Citing the deteriorating crisis of democracy that continues to overtake the country, national civil rights leaders implored Sen. Manchin to commit to the protection of voting rights using every means at the Senate’s disposal, including overriding the filibuster.

“Since the leaders last met with Sen. Manchin in June, some states have continued to enact discriminatory restrictions on voting and have begun approving racially-gerrymandered political maps. Conscientious election officials are being driven from office and replaced with partisan extremists intent on subverting the voters’ will.

“This not only hurts democracy overall, but the communities we represent, who have been historically disenfranchised throughout our nation’s history. We have fought too hard for our voting rights to see them eroded.

“Every Senator must grasp the urgency of this critical moment in history and take immediate action to protect voting rights.

“The leaders noted that, despite Sen. Manchin’s efforts to assemble a bipartisan coalition to pass voting rights legislation, not a single Republican Senator has been willing to cooperate in the defense of democracy. It’s time to dispense with the filibuster.

“Over the last half-century, the Senate has carved out 161 exemptions from the filibuster, many of which are in common use, on matters involving trade, foreign policy, defense, budget reconciliation, judicial confirmations, and health care.

“The leaders impressed upon Sen. Manchin that nothing is more crucial to a functioning democracy than the right to vote, the most enshrined right in the Constitution. Conversely, the filibuster, primarily used in the 20th Century to block civil rights legislation, never was part of Framers’ vision for the Senate and is not enshrined in any law.”