AFT President Randi Weingarten on the Supreme Court’s Blow to Voting Rights and Donor Transparency

WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s rulings in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, which upholds two election restrictions in Arizona and in effect will make it harder to challenge several attempts to limit voting around the nation, and Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta, which struck down a California policy requiring charities to disclose information on their donors. These regressive rulings come as the GOP has moved more than 400 voter suppression bills in 48 states and dark money continues to weaken our democracy:

“Trump's impact on the Supreme Court is clear today. Today’s decisions made it harder for people of color to vote while shielding the rich and making it easier for them to buy elections. In the last election we saw anti-democracy forces working overtime to limit voting rights: purging eligible people from voter rolls, limiting who could vote by mail, reducing ballot drop-off locations, and closing polling places so that many voters had to wait in hourslong lines to cast ballots. And we saw the insidious effects of dark money, giving a big megaphone to those with money and using it to push the ‘big lie’ that Joe Biden didn’t win fairly. 

“Our democracy is in peril, and restricting voting access and allowing dark money to go unchecked only harms us more. We must have transparency, and we have to protect the right to vote because voting in America is one of our most sacred acts. Regardless of political affiliation, every voter has an unalienable right to have a voice in our democracy and a say in how we’re governed. Any effort to limit those rights should be seen as an existential threat to the well-being of our republic. Congress has a moral obligation to restore the Voting Rights Act. It must pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For the People Act. Our democracy can't wait.”