Congressional Record for the Senate S. 6858

Annotated Secondary Research
June 16, 1982

Congressional Record for the Senate S. 6858 preview

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  • Case Files, Thornburg v. Gingles Working Files - Guinier. Congressional Record for the Senate S. 6858, 1982. d0f74478-dc92-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/afa16755-8bef-4d1f-bd29-b353f7582e8a/congressional-record-for-the-senate-s-6858. Accessed April 06, 2025.

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66ffiD coNGRESSToNAL RECoRD - sENATE (th, ih\?-^Llr\'-";ot mention the average by our so-ealled brackets of ages tn an with entiret!'. so that tEFtttizffi-rtuf", do not mention the al'erage by our so-ealled brackets of ages tn an with entirel!'. so that tEFutizcn-rtu-
St.ates. Some persons mlght sa, that I election. In 1980 the record indicales not hal'e the opportunlty to sa,'that
&m calling on a certain State and un- that only 22 percent of those gualified there is some difficulty because of an
derscoring a failure of its cltizenry to and registered 18, t9, and 20 5jear olds obstacle one c'a!' or another that
be concerned about the problems of s'ere voting in the United Stat€s of keeps the American voting population
the counLry. I state a.s a fact that Ameriea. from exercising lts right and lts re.
there were several sLates of lhe union So let the record indicate toda!', sponsibility.lnshlchtherev.erelessthan50outof s'ith no action being taken at this No*,if ihar,einan!'senselectured,every 100 eliglble vote:s cho nent to time, that I call attention to the fall- ml. rising r.as not foi that purpose. ithe polls tD 1980. west virginia was ure of the American people to partici- c."tirue-to u.orli with !'oung ieople.not one of those States. We had ap- pate with their ballots on election We naie a Eloup called Constitutionproximately a third or a fouri,h na- dar.s, qh3ls1'er those da,'s mi-ght be. ir.-rrri, is a sroup of young men andtional position q.ith ?l percent of our f atso s'anf t" dr-1"0_i am-not ;:;;fi mostly college age, through.
eliS:ible voters ea-sting ballots in No- given to trying to preach, I certainly ;;i--til Nation c-ho a!-e attempting tovember of 1980. do not q'ant to be in that posture- ;;;[; the campuses and to ta]k n-ithI hope lt is noi inappropriate for me that c'e need a rebirth of ilxdliidual re. .rii^'Jo11*uf with students &bout theto sa!'that in 1942 se had.only-one sponsibi)ily tn the Unired Stales of 

"""a-io, their participatjon on elec-
-Stale in the Union, Georgia, c'hich Ameriea tn our role as citizens who. iil.-,1"i,
s'a-s givin8 the opportunlty to lts l8- under our Constitution for, of, -*d py "'i"tiiil, you know, sometimes it isyear-old youth to participate with the the people-ix this instance pV ttr! 

"l,?"'"io"C, 
someone might say lt lsba'llot' At that time I sas.off.ering.a peopie-r'hich is not taking plice at iii"'"i't" compare our eountry withconstitutional amendment that c'ould ihe present time. - Eome other countr!, ln connection cithgive to the youth of this country, the I Lppreciate the tndule

ia, rs, ana io year ords, the riehr and coir"rsu". who are "" ,1?";r3l frl 3HJ,ittr fi:;:?;iiffa:Ij.'ii;gtiH
i!:":"'.f#ii{,'J# l*:"m_i?:#J,ei 'llil:fl;*t: iri:f,:H::"t'fi*.", lnl.#* ?1"#S;Tti:#ilfi,Tilthrough the Consress in 1942? It did lf the Senatol will yieid? ficult for us to vote. But ln Nec. Zea.not. There was little inLerest in lt et Mr. RAITDOLPE. Yes, r"rl"]9^ifil: i"i,-d, iitn the rong dlci,ances, or Aus.that time. I remember the hearinc in Mr. rrAllr. I think th.^ s:?_"tl^_t iiliii''i.itn the same picture, those

u;i's!':f":iu;IT_!:'JLi,*,1[E li*,""ffh'ff"*lf;'",T,*l"l*:":i #ijn ";',*;:ffi]::;FTf"_?l;Ernanuel Celier of New York, sho died the cliizen and the respr
no,. too long ago, a very fine member participation. Ee, I 

""r 
rnt.,;;u";;.""1i 3fi*'iht3r,?ilr3td.:L:"#"JHriitJlof the House, and ehairman of the addit,ionally the efforts thr

comrntree. rre was the only committei made over the years, r"al jL{1:i; ll|"tfftlt" 
":t""1tio?*"J$?n"Ir:mernberpresent. rnan} years bI'our former.collea8ue, imlx-i, us; look up to us.,. I sar-,I thousht there s'ouid be substantial the senaLor from wto,lT*_.^.,G^1: ..ffii a'onn at us,,, beeause of our fail.numbers of persons concerned with MrGee, to enlist some sort ol national ,#T;;" the baUot in America.

11";:,T3trjol,lll,if"f,:;3ill';ii* 3,1'"fr*,l"""jfjl3'j3",ng'!iJffii ,ffi 
*ft."ffarruAs 

Mr president, str.

He'*L"'",TtriJm:;:r"ll",{:'i 5";,r'r"x-im,l"tfi*iuT:,i* '"ii"Tl"i'3',1i" r vie,d to mv
that hearing. That ls indicative, I sug- proviae leadership on. riat tra; ffi; rriendsnd collea€''ue.
gest to the Presiding Officer, thit iesisted, unfortunatetl', bii somJ of our . Mr' MATHIAS. I have been particu-
there was & failure to then recognnize colleag-ues, I think rirori often than lsrly 

- 
lDterested tn the Senator's

that young people should be given the not bi our co-lleaguei o" ine opJoii- thoughtful remarks and ln the kind of
opportunity to vote. tion side. perspective that he has given us on

lL sa-s not untU 30 years later that Does he not aEree, iJ ne had that this shole debate, the kinci of histori-
ce Eere to have this privilege and re- kind of Eyst.em that'is reasonable in cal perspective of the development of
sponsibilit]' for our young people. . . . the modern 20th eentury era for a concern over a period of a nurnber oI .

the use, or lack of the use, of the people to register to vo're, that that yeqs.
baUot. might go a long sat h terms of i-nvolr.- Of course, I wes intrigued bS hx in-

I continrred Co offer the constitution- ing citizen part.icipation in the elective Yoking the name of Emanuel Celle:,
al amendment. Finally, in 19?1, we process? who s'as my chairman in the other
passed that constitutional amendment Mr. RANDOLPH. In respcnse to m!' body for 8 years and with s'hom I
in the Senate 94 to 0 and in the House colleague, I suppcrted the proposal of worked very closely lrr the develop-
oI Representatives by {01 to 19. As we Senator McGee- And I believe that we Bent of the original Voiing Riehts Act
knoq, it takes t\r'o-thirds of the IUem- are a country on wheels end sings, of 1965. r'}rnanuel Ceiler's D,ame, to-
bers of the Senate present and voting, truly being a mobiie counLrs. \{'e our. gether with that of William Mc€ul.
and of the House present and voting. selves move back anC forth, under- loch, the ranfine minority member ofto send that constitutional amend- standably, ln the emplolEent picture, the Judiciary Commirtee in the other
ment to the States where the legisla- shere the products of the farm, the body, should be enscribed on a roll of
tive bodies give atLention to its ratifi- field, and the factory are moving bonor, because their jomt effcrG were
cation. quickly to our constituencies, to the so lmportant ln the pa\sage not only

We have never had a constitutional consuming public. I think that any of tho Voting Rights Act but of the
amendment approved by the State in progrs.m-I do not want to use the Sreat Cir'i] Rights Aet of 1964, of the
such a short period of time, only g0 words "that makes tt ea-sier." That is Fair llousi:rg Aet, and of the ETeat
da]'s. Within that short span of g0 not n'hat ce neeC. agenda of civil rights legislation.
days we had the sufficient nu:nber of Mr. EIART. Breaks dosr bariers. So the Senat,or has touched an im-
38 States whieh had raiified the 18-, Mr. RANDOLPH. That Ls c, el_! said, portant point that v'e are todar-
19-, and 20-year-old vot-ing pror':sion, breaks down barrie:-s. M]. coil.-,ague is marehing along a weD-defined path,
the 26th amendmer,t, which is th. la-st co:'rect. It gives the opport'-:nitl' to one Ic whlch c'e should Dot tire nor
amendrnent to our Consr"itu'.io:1. those pecpl: because ol tfr. co:r.plex- flag but keep on moving. I thank theWhat happened? Did !'o:r:h. r:: ia:-ge it1. oi ou: econornj: E]-sie:n, toi ttre Senator.
numbers vote? I am shochec to sp.y, I hoped-for participatior ol men and Mr. RANDOLPII. I am grateful foram sad-t_o say thel'dici no'.. The 18-, women. Arrd I join hirn in rhe feeling the cogent comments trr-at-my cot-
.1i''.31d 20'year'old youths arc \'cting that insofar as pcssible, these barrie* league,-*'ho has not a vesGa hterestlrr Lne smauest percentage of any of should be lowered, tn fact done away ln West Virginia, where he does own,

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