As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a case that could further weaken the federal Voting Rights Act, some Mississippi lawmakers are moving to write their own version.
State lawmakers in the the Legislative Black Caucus on Martin Luther King Jr. Day filed legislation to create a state-level version of the Voting Rights Act. They said their act is designed to safeguard minority voting rights, as the nation’s highest court has indicated it’s open to revisit provisions of the Civil Rights era federal law and has already overturned some.
The state legislation would prohibit dilution of minority voters, create a Mississippi Voting Rights Commission and require some jurisdictions to obtain preclearance approval from the newly created commission.
Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson and author of the legislation, said at a press conference in front of the state Capitol on Monday that the bill is not about one party or one race, but about protecting the voting rights of future generations.
“I’m a mother of three sons, and what we do today determines what we do with their future,” Summers said.
The bill would be named the Robert G. Clark Jr. Voting Rights Act, in honor of Clark, who in 1967 became the first Black Mississippian elected to the state Legislature in the modern era. Clark was ostracized when first elected to the House and sat at a desk by himself without the traditional deskmates that other House members had. But he became a respected legislative leader.
Clark later held some of the highest positions in the Legislature. He served 10 years as chairman of the House Education Committee, including during the period when the historic Education Reform Act of 1982 was passed.
Clark later served as speaker pro tempore of the House, the second-highest position in the chamber. Clark died last year at age 96.
Rep. Bryant Clark, a Democrat from Pickens and son of Robert Clark, said his father would be horrified to know that the U.S. Supreme Court is considering rolling back the protections that he and so many civil rights pioneers fought for so heavily.
“But my daddy taught me one thing,” Clark said. “He taught me when democracy is threatened, you don’t give up. You fight harder.”
In a Legislature dominated by Republican politics, it’s doubtful that the legislation will gain major traction.
In 2024, a federal three-judge panel ruled the Legislature violated the Voting Rights Act when it redistricted itself and it ordered the lawmakers to redraw some legislative seats to give Black voters in certain areas of the state a fair shot at electing a candidate.
Republican leaders largely complied with the order, though many of them complained that the judges, who were appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, were forcing them to redraw the districts and disagreed with the rulings.
Last year, another federal judge, also appointed by Bush, ruled the state violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting strength in Mississippi’s state Supreme Court district lines and ordered the Legislature to redraw them.
In each of these instances, Black voters were able to file such a suit because of protections in the Voting Rights Act — the same federal law the U.S. Supreme Court is considering dismantling.
Amir Badat, an attorney with Fair Fight Action, encouraged hundreds of people at a rally on Monday to call legislators and urge them to pass the voting rights legislation and to signal to the U.S. Supreme Court that overturning federal voting protections would be a grave mistake.
“Justice does not move on its own,” Badat said. “People move it. So today we are choosing to move. We are choosing to fight.”
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