Congressman Cohen Responds to Trump’s Meddling in Tennessee Electoral Representation

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today reviewed President Trump’s social media broadside calling for Congressional redistricting in Tennessee, and made the following statement:

“Trump and the GOP want to take power away from Black voters in Memphis and nationwide. Donald Trump’s Jim Crow Supreme Court has emasculated the Voting Rights Act — the last line of defense in protecting fair representation in Congress for majority Black communities like Memphis, the same city where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed while fighting for Black Americans to have a voice in their own government. That’s the voice they’re trying to take away.

“The Voting Rights Act was the crowning jewel of legislation passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson, fought for by civil rights leaders like MLK and John Lewis. They’ve been dismantling it for years, and with this decision they want to put it to rest. It’s the greatest setback to civil rights since Plessy v. Ferguson in the Jim Crow era.

“It took the GOP less than six hours to start eyeing Memphis after the SCOTUS decision on Louisiana, and that tells you everything. The grift, the corruption, the mass deportations and violence, Trump and the GOP know it’s over after November — unless they can keep people from the polls, or redraw the maps entirely beforehand.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty right now, but you can count on this: I will not back down. My team and I are already in touch with experienced voting rights attorneys to see what can be done to try and stop this — more to come.”

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