U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke on the Senate floor criticizing actions by the Trump Administration that he says undermine voting rights in the United States. The remarks came after a strong showing for Democrats in recent elections.
Durbin argued that efforts to restrict access to voting have increased under the Trump Administration, stating, "There has been an effort for years to restrict access to the ballot under the false banner of ‘election integrity.’ Under the Trump Administration, this effort is being led by the very government entities created to protect the right to vote. This betrayal is deliberate and strategic, and it is eroding the foundation of our democracy. Let me be clear: There is no longer a functioning federal entity actively safeguarding each Americans’ right to vote—our most fundamental constitutional freedom."
He accused the administration of significantly weakening the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. According to Durbin, Attorney General Pam Bondi removed leadership from its Voting Section and dismissed all active cases related to voting rights enforcement. He emphasized that this section is responsible for upholding several key federal laws designed to protect voters.
Durbin also referenced reports that before Election Day, Republican Party officials requested Justice Department monitoring at polling sites in California and New Jersey. He said, "While election monitoring is a crucial tool, deploying monitors on a partisan basis is outrageous. We know that voter fraud is extremely rare—but President Trump and Republicans continue to baselessly claim it is rampant [in an effort to] suppress the vote."
During his speech, Durbin advocated for passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act—a bill he introduced with Senator Raphael Warnock—which aims to restore protections removed by a 2013 Supreme Court decision.
"This legislation should be a no-brainer. The issue of access to the ballot used to enjoy overwhelming bipartisan support… But since the conservative majority in a divided, 5-4 Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in its 2013 Shelby County decision, this has become an increasingly partisan issue," said Durbin.
He continued by warning about various strategies he claims are used by Republican lawmakers across states: "Attacks on voting rights aren’t happening in a vacuum. Across this country, Republican lawmakers and litigators are using every trick in the book to change the rules of the game in their favor and cling to power. Purging voter rolls, closing polling places, restricting mail-in voting, and undermining the Voting Rights Act all for one purpose: to limit access to the ballot box."
Durbin concluded his remarks with reference to late Congressman John Lewis: "We now face a critical question: will we sit idly by while Trump and MAGA Republicans steamroll the great American experiment, or will we cause some ‘good’ and ‘necessary’ trouble, as John Lewis once said, to save our democracy—and our ‘precious, almost sacred’ right to vote?"
