With Republican-backed voter suppression bills sweeping the country, the Democrat-majority in the U.S. Senate has quickly lost its grip on protecting voters of color and others who are marginalized at the polls.
As the nation’s top law enforcement officer and leader of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Attorney General is responsible for safeguarding our civil and constitutional rights. In light of this Administration’s relentless attacks on the enforcement of our civil rights laws, our nation desperately needs and deserves an Attorney General who is committed to that mission and to our country’s ongoing progress toward equal justice and racial equality.
While speaking at a historically black college, the Massachusetts senator identified some of the system’s failures: disproportionate arrests of African Americans for petty drug possession; an overloaded public defender system; and state laws that keep convicted felons from voting even after their sentences are complete.