Notice of Appeal

    15; 1982

ttry request, t caY to mY lrlend lnom
trth carolltre' lB thst now, hevtng

cloture. and notslthrtandtng
't[c provtBlons ol nrle ]EXII whlch al'
locrt€ 100 hours lor debate-thrt lr to

an hour for each Eenetor, Postclo'
hrre, plus certaln other arrange'
nentr-we go dlrectlY to the vote on

' the motlon to procee4 so tJut we cBn
;' Drooeed wlth the btll.

Ur. lrFr.Ms. Mr. Presldent, re8et3'
lng the rlght to object. I thtnl tho te'
cueet Uy the dtrtlnguLebed lnrlorlty
[caaer mey be prcmture. I heve to'
object

Tbe PRESIDINC OEFTCER. ObJEE
tlon ls heard

Mr. BAKER. Mr. Presldent' I lutlY
understar.td the posltlon ol the Sena'
tor lrom North Carollne' but I do
hope that sometlme today. before thLs
aey k out, we can exhaust the rematn'
lns OeUate on the motlon to Proceed
ana ttrat we maY be sble to get to the
bIIL

So I say to qY lrtend from North
Carollna that later ln the day' I
should ltke to dlscuss thls matter wlth
htrn and perhaps renew that request,

Mr. HELIVIS. Mr. Presldent' wlll the
Senator yleld?

Mr. BAKER. I Yteld.
Mr. HELMS. I thank the Senator.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The

Senate wtll be ln order. Those Sena'
tors wlshtng to converse wlll please
retlre to the cloakroom. It would be
nuch easler to hear what the Senator
from North Carollna has to saY.

Mr. rrE:rMS. Mr. Eesldent, I ssy tO
the dlsttngulshed malorlty leader that
ln all the ttme uP to now, I have.con'
runed less than 25 mlnut€&

I s8y to the Senate agBln, as I bevc
nld iarller, and I ssy to qv lrlend
lrom Tennessee ttrat ll we could work
out some accornmodatlod on a couple
of *mendments aud have gome assur'
ence that there would not be lntracts'
bllty, I would be wllllng to vote at 5
o'clock thts afternoon" But I have ex'
plored that posslblUty, I know thet
the dtstlngutshed majorlty leeder has
explored that posslbtllty' and we 8eem
to have made no headweY. So I thlnt
perhaps lt would be well, ln vlew ol
the nature of the leglslatloq ll we dls'
cussed lt a llttle.

Ilowever, I want gls mr,lorltf leader
to know that. ll therc ca'n be e llttlc
gilve and teke on both slde!, t wlll glve
and I wlll take.

Mr. BAreR.I thanf the Senator.
Mr. Plestdent, I heve nothlng fur'

ther.
l,tr.STEVENS. Mr. Presldent, whlle lt

rould mgke no dfffertnce ln tems ol
the hun&ed hours-thrt ls, a llmlta'
tlon on the proposed cloture ptrooe'
dure-I polnt out thet eech Senator lg
at llberty to yleld back the tlme th8t
would be allocated to thet Senetor
under the postcloture procedure, and
tt ts my hopc thet some wlll proceed to
do so.

Mr. EAIlll,Y F. BY:Rf,r, JR- l[r.
hesldent" the Judlclil? Commlttce ro.
cently reported e blll 8. 199& whtch

Ject to Federal dlctet€o untll the year Thc lundarnental obsenatlon ls that the
200?, or neerly e hell century slnce resultr t€st har obsolutelv no coherent or
the inectment ol the orleilnsl leglsla' under8trndable rneanlng bevond the rlnple
ai;LltGtotattyunreasoniUte. notlon ol proportlonsl.reprerentstlon bv

i wfU retterite wtra[--i trevc cetd race, howcver vehcmentlv ltr Droponenta

naniTrnes ln tht! cueiuei-rirc prd denv thtr
cfeaitice piovtslons ot-ltre Vollng lfr. Presldent. proportlonal repre'
nigntr 

- ec[ constttut 
- unwarantea gentatlon would rgbvert the ltrnde'

eiil-unreesonable Flderel lntewentlon mental precept thEt t!e- tndtvtduel-
U IfiCeiectoret processe ol the gtater not-raclal, ethnlc or-rellglous groups-

Not content to dnpl, cxtcnd thls tcellwtem"
miaaresone ana oniriua provtslon, I belteve tt tr vltelly lnnortant thet
[trltgbusC-paseed e bl11 rfuch ebd, our polltlcel !y!!€m'-whlch r3ller on
ahe;1CA ip6rna^nent Drovldon ol the brocd consensus-bufldlng' not become
act, -te"ttoir. Z. nre -eltcct of thts prey to narmw facttoneusm based on
chinle ls to allow prlvatc votlng rlghtr rece.
suttr and to lnvlte lurther lnterlerence Ttre cubcommlttee heald astute tea'
by the courts ln loce,l electtons. tlnony to thla - no-lnt. from Prol.-For t? yean,.rectlon 2 bas gtood al Edward Eler ol the Natlonal Euman-
an unconlroveiaat eoaftcetlon ol the ltles Center. Ee sgld:
ftfteen emenfuent of- the Conatltu- Notlrlng oould bc morc.tlro to ttro Atncrl-
tlon, whlch lorblds lurMlctlons lrom can poUttcel tndltlon tbrn thc ldet ol pro-

CONGRESSIONAL'RECORD - SENATE s 6786' .

would extind tor 36 yeerg the burden. denylns anyone ttre-rlght to vote on
uitruUi tata upon i lcw Stateq ln'- account ol race or color'
frdhC-VirstndUi tne pass3ge oi tne T11c US. Supreme Court.has ruled
VJGi'n[Utr elt 6f fSeb. - that to prove a vloletlon-of thc law. lt- 

rtrf votrns R.lshE Act eppuea to must be chown that c local electlon
o"ri-ntiri-SEtcs'-3nd parts bi a lew procedure ras edopted wlth the [rtent
othlr* to dlscrlmlnate.- a- li+uea . eompronlsc wll sp- More spccltlcally, the court held' ln
proved Ui.ttre .nrd6ery Commtttce ttr landmArk ru[ng $ clty of Moblle-
ina inaoncC ty lffiaerit tcagun BCBlnst Bolden, that ln areas wlthout
-f6r. 1aincal & lgg2 13 [r lact no e hlstory ol dtscrlmtnetlon, cour;man'
cdf;rod"e et atU ft would DemetuBte dst€d chanses tn electlon laq's arQ war'
ttre -unf[ precteerance pr6vtitoru of ranted only when 8n lqtent to dls'
the ortglnal- act tor rnother qusrter' crhfnate Is proven.
century. enO tnrougtr the 'iresults Indeed, provlng tntent ls central to
tecf; ti secttoh 2, thCbg would open many, 11 not most, court proceedlngs,
ifrC aoor to the *rntctous doctrtre ol whether they bc crlmlnal or clvll.
proporttonal repreaentetlon. Nonetheless, clvll rtchts Sxoupg- 

fir|g bttl lor the ftrst tlme frtroduces ergue that unequal results-nnmely,
e quota system to Anerlcan pollttcs. the electton of mtnortty candldates ln
ani tt tays tne loundatlon for the po- disproportlonatelV small numbers-
Itttcal segreg&tlon of our soclety. constltute de facto evldence of discrlm'

The blll ts g perlect exaurpld of the lnatlon.
sort ol leglslative morasl that polttt- So the quotg enthuslasts pushed for
ctans create when they bow to pres- an easter sta.ndard, and the House
sure Eroups. duly lncluded ln tts blll the so-called

s. rss2- ls bad law a"nd unsound effects or results test. Tlrus, lt would
publle pollcy. I cannot support lt. Its only be necessary to prove that a law
itatea 

-oUjecttves 
. are confqsed, a.m. had dlscrlminatory results to strlke lt

btguous and contradlctory. down-
indeed, the blll ls worse tha,n a In other words, an electlon proce'

stmpte extenslon of the 1965 act. dure-such as at-large votinS-could
F6r 1? years now, Vlrgtnla and other be found dlscr{minatory lf minorltles

covered Jirrtsdicttons have been forced were not elected ln proportionate
to clear even the most trlvlal electoral numbers.
changes-such as extendlng voter reg' Mr. Presldent, the effects test has
lstratton hours-wlth the U.S. Attor' nothlng to do wlth protecttng the
ney General rtght ol Amerlcen cltlzens to vote. It

io take another exa,mple, ehould a has everythlng to do wtth lnsurlng
communlty declde to shlft a polltng proportlonal representatlon.
place trom one butldlng to enother, lt Thts fact was repeatedly under'
bopld heve to secure the blesslng ol scored durtng extenslve hearlngs on
ttr-iattornev General ln \lgashlngtorU the Eouse btll hetd earUer thls year by
D.C. the Judlclary Commlttee's subcommlt'

Tlrus, do vlrgtnta and a lew other tee on the constltutlon. I commend
ereas oberate under the dlctates of the the subcommlttee, and lts able chalr-
Federal Government lnsofar as oJny man, the Senetor from Utah (Mr'
electoral declston ls concerned. HATS11), lor tts metlculous scrutlny of

Thls preclearance proylslorL mea"nt the bltl and the results test tn partlcu'
to Ue trimporary, lg f6und ln sectlon 5 lar.
ol the act ana has been twlce ex' - I]lre gubcommlttee'8 report, whlch I
tended, tn 19?0 and 19?5. strongly urge my crolleggues to read'

Under thls new btll, Vlrgtnta and plalnly exposes the purpose ol the re'
other covered areas would remaln sub' sults test. I quote:

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's 6786
portlongl representatlon. Proportlonel rep,
resentatlon makes lt lmposslble for the ttp.
resentatlve Droces! to tlnd I oomnon
Sround that transcends facttonsllzed lnter'
ests. Every modern government baled on
the proportlonsl system lr hlghly lrsgment
ed and unstable. I?rc Senlur ol thc Amerl.
c8n rystem ts that lt requtrer lrctlons end
lnteresta to take an enlarSed vlew of thelr
own welfare, to see. as lt were, thelr own ln.
terests through the fllter of the common
good.

Now, the House btll, evldently to de-
flect crltlclsm of the results test, ln-
cludcs a disclalmer whlch states that
sectlon 2 does not create e rtght to
proportlonal representation.

Thls dlsclalmer strlkes me as contra.
dictory at best, and dislngenious at
worst.

In orde e court to

n8

sultr test leads tnvarlably to DropoF
tlonel representatton er thc remedy ln
votlng dlscrlmlnatlon cult&

In tectlmony beforu thc Conctltutlon
subcornrrrlttee, kof. Eenry Abreham
ol the Unlveretty ol Vtrclnll put lt
succUrctly:

Only thosc Eho Uvc ln r drce,m rorld cen
trll to Dereelvc thc bulc thrut rod purDolc
r,nd lnevltrble result ol thc nct, rcctlon t lt
l! to cdabush r Drttcra ol ptlDortlotrd rcp
r€sentrtlon, Dow based upoD rroc-Dcrhr,DE
rt a lEtcr noment ln.tlnc uDon gender or
rcllclon or nitlonsllty.

Mr. hestdent, each and every
Amerlcan cltlzen har the r{ght to vote'
but not the rlsht to be elected. Ite
Federal Government has no buslnegs
trylng to guarantee certaln electton re.
sults.

Tlre admtllstratlon was under no ll-
luslon about aectlon 2. Ttre subcom-
rnlttee'r leadoll wltness, Attorney'General \trlllle,n Frencb Smtth,
stressed the dangett lnherent ln tbe
resdlts tf8t.

The natlonwlde results rtanda,rd, be
geld, would mafe long ltandlng elec'
tlon procedureg ln comnunltles lcnoss
the country vulnerable to tegrl chel-
lengp lt electlon results falled to
mlrror the local populatlon mlx.

Ttre Attorney General predlcted
that communttleg wtth 'at large elec-
tlons and multlnember dtetrtcts would
eome under attacf, as would Dany re-
dlstrlcthg end reepportlonment plans.

IIe clso predlcted thct passaae of the
results test would further embroll tJre
courtr ln locsl electlons across the
land. I guote:

To Gnt€rtsln thlr klnd ol uoendment to
the Act'r permanent provlslon lr lnevltabty
to lnvltc yeam of extended Utlgattor\ ldav-
lns ln doubt the ve,lldlty ol longstandtng
state and local electlon lawt ln the tnterlm
snd lnvttlng the federal court6, on Do more
than a flndlng of dlsproportlonate electlon
resulk, to restructure government systems
tha,t have been ln place for dec8des,

CONGRESSIONAL REGORD - SENATE'
. In llght ol the admlntstratlon's earll-
er objectlons to the results test, lt was
disheartenlng to . hear Presldent
Reagan recently glve hls blesslng to
the Judlclary Comnlttee's verslon of
s. 1992.

What has happened to brtng about
the admtntstratlon'g change ln mtnd?

The Senate verslon ol the blll-the
so+alled compromlse-ottempts .to
mollify crltlcs of the results test by
adding a dash of legal Jargon to 8ec-
tlon 2.

Speclflgally, the blll retakrs the re.
sults test. but goes on to state that a
vtolatlon can be proved "lt, based on
the totallty .of clrcumstances, lt ls
shown that the polltlcal processes sub-
divislon are not equally open to partlc-
tpatlon" by Sroups.

ne-

"totlllty of clrcum-

kei element ol the
compromtse, the Judlcllrry blll extends
the llle of the gectlon 6 preclearance
provlslons another 2! yearg and elters
the batlout lenguege.

In reellty, thll blU lr not e compno-
mlse; lt rather constltutes an ebdlca-
tlon ol congiresslonal regponslblllty.

It enshroude eongrcaslon8l lntent ln
the mtsty lairgusse of polttlcal expedl-
ency. Its tnevtteble rcsult' wlU be 8
flurry ol Utlgatlon glnce the task of dl-
vlntns congfesslonal tntent wlU ta,ll to
the eourts. i

And lt ls certeln tttst the courts wlll
take a long tlme lnterpretlng thls mtt-
begotten leglsletlon In the meantlme,
local clectlons wlll bc chsllenged and
deleyed'as the legal wheel,r grlnd on
and oII

Tbe btUl most lnstdlouc efiect rrUl
be to undernlne ttre people'r felth ln
thelr own polltlcal gyaten" A cardlnel
tcnet ol Amerlcan dcmocracy b that
clttzeil have thc rtght to detefinlne
the ktnd of glovernnent they want to
mn thelr locgl sffBh&

ftllrB btu Bbroset€s'thet rtght ln
favor ol the speclal lnt€rest, ol certaln
pressure Sxoups.

The rlght to vote lr ttre baslc gu.ar-
agtor ol all our democratlo rtghts. It
ahould not be comprtmlsed by poUtlj
cans seeklng to curry lsvor wlth thts
group or that at electlon ttme.

Furthermore, Mr. Prestdent, thk blll
embodles i thrust tolra^rd proporttonal
representatlon whlch could lead to the
creetlon ol what Boute heve called "po-
Utlcal shettoes" h'our soclety.

I do not see how the establlshment
of federelly mandated segregated
vothg distrlcts wlll help mlnorltles ln
the long run. Indeed, the disappear-
ance of mlxed votlng dlstrlcts, where

Juru 15; 1982

coElltlon-bulldlng ls posslble, may ao
tually dlmlnlsh mtnorlty votlng power.

I belteve lt should be polnted out
that the assumptlon underlylng the
push for proportlonal representation
ls a raclst assumptlon. It ls that whltes
wlll not vote for blscks, that blacks
cannot be falrly represented by whltes,
that only Hlspanlcs should represent
Hlspanics, and so on.

The electlon of blacks and other ml-
norlty members to promlnent offlces
throughout the country belles these
assumptlons. Whltes certalnly voted
for the mayor of Los Angeles and
blacks certalnly voted for the Gover-
nor of Vlrginla.

In summary, Mr. Prestdent, the al-
leged "compromise" has three key fea-
tures.

It provldes 8 new ballout sectlon to
take effect tn 198{. Covered Jurlsdic-
tlons theoretlcally wlll be able to batl
out lrom the preclearance provlslons ll
they can show a court here ln Wash-
lngiLon, D.C. a clean votlng rlghts
record lor the precedlng 10 years.'

Eowever, the deflnltlon of a "clee,n"
record-ln cor{unctlon wtth the re

teat-wlll permlt frlvolow corn
plalnts to keep any Jurlsdlctlon
chelned lndellnltely to the act.

Second, the b[l extends the pre
cleara,nee mechanlsm for 25 yea.rs,

rather than meklnS tt peEnanent, as
ln the llouse btll.

But thtl prolongr tor a quarter cen
tury the bumfllatlng and unnstunl
condltlon of Federal overslght of local
electlons: A eondltlon whlch vtolates '

the constltutlonal authorlty of the
Stst€r to prescrlbe electorel Droce.'
durcs.

Iastly and most omlnously, the blll
overtfums the Supreme Court's Mobtle
declslon an4 through the resulta t€st,
may well result ln proportlonal repre
aentatlon

Proponents nay csll thls blll 8 "com-
proml,se" ll they choose.

But the compromlse ln the languagc
ol the leglsletton ls cosmetlc and wlth-
out rubsta,nce.

Ar to the 2t-yesr extenslon. I asl
thls: Eow h lt a compromlse to Ben
tenct an lnnocent man to 25 years tn
prlson, lnstead ol llle?

U, lndeed, there was Justlllcatlon lor
passage of the Vqtlns Rlghts Act ol
1965, I aur convlnced lt ts totaUy ur.
reasonable to assertrthat now, l? years
later, lts enforcement provlslons need
to be extended lor en addltlonal 25
yesr&

Are mlnorlty voters ln lnmlnent
danser of belns dlsenlranchlsed?
There, ls no evldence to support thh
vlew.

fn Vkgtnla, there has been no evl.
dence whatsoever thet enyone hu
been denled the rlght to vote.

Yet paseage.of this leglsletlon would
cest lnsultlng and thoroughly unJustl.
fled reflectlon on the people of Vlrgln.
la, who have been scrupulous ln pro
tectlng the rlsht of all cltlzens to votn.

oy eJ