Correspondence from Edwards to Chambers; Voting Rights Act Upheld, Decision Hailed News Release from Congressman Don Edwards

Correspondence
June 30, 1986 - July 14, 1986

Cite this item

Correspondence from Edwards to Chambers; Voting Rights Act Upheld, Decision Hailed News Release from Congressman Don Edwards preview

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at .

Matter
- Gingles
Case
- Thornburg v. Gingles
U.S. state
- North Carolina
Collection
- Case Files
Taxonomy
Identifier
- ec16a552-dd92-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873

Cite this item

Case Files, Thornburg v. Gingles Working Files - Guinier. Correspondence from Edwards to Chambers; Voting Rights Act Upheld, Decision Hailed News Release from Congressman Don Edwards, 1986. ec16a552-dd92-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/fe708d18-671a-43dd-9116-0ed6bbf46fae/correspondence-from-edwards-to-chambers-voting-rights-act-upheld-decision-hailed-news-release-from-congressman-don-edwards. Accessed November 23, 2025.

Copied!

    IDON ED'flARDS
',O?x DrStlict, C^Lrroiila

COMMITTEE ON
JUDICIARY

CHAIBMAN
SUBCOMMITTEE ON

crvtL At{D
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

COMMITTEE ON
VETERANS' AFFAIRS

€ongueit of tbe @;nite! Statts
Asuge of Sepregentatibcd

tlasringlon, DG 20515

July 14, 1986

Mr. Julius L. Chambers
Di rector -Counsel
Legal Defense Fund
99 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10013

Dear Julius:
Thanks so much for sharing with me a copy of the Supreme Court
decision in Thornburg v. Gingles. Like Iou, I was delighted
with this de 1982 Votin! Rights Act.

I thought you night be interested in the statement I released
on the day the decision was released, and have enclosed a copy
for your reference.

Itrs nice to win one for a change!

Sincerely,

Don Edwards
Member of Congress

DE: rh

wAsr{txcroil oFFrcE.

(2O2t 22r-ro72

DItTtrCT OFFICES:

Fro:t[ O?act ButLDtio
2!O Soun Flitr srrEEr

Eum 372
Sai Jor:. CA 85 I t 3

(.o8) 2924r.3
3E760 PatEo PADiE PArrwaY

Fr:roir, CA 3tll3t
(atEl 792-5320



EDWDS
San Jose.Milpitas .Fremont. Newark .flnion City

FoR rnMEDrArn nernase r rr(s/o, NEWS REt EAig."".,
2307 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

IvOTING RIGHTS ACT UPHELD, DECISION HAILED

Todayrs Supreme Court decision upholding the L982 amendments to the

Voting Rights Act was praised by the chairman of the House Subcommittee on

CiviI and Constitutional Rights.
rThe decision is a great victory for all Americans, again affirming the

fundamental right to voter' said Don Edwards (D-Calif.).

The court, in Thornburg v. Gingles, upheld the heart of the L982

amendments to the Voting Rights Act. Section 2 of the Act was amended to

prohibit electoral practices that result in discrimination. 9!-ry]es.,

dealing with legislative redistricting in North Carolina, presented the

Supreme Court with its first opportunity to review the 1982 amendments to

the Act.

"The legislative intent of the L982 amendments is clear in order to
f ind a Section 2 violation, cou.rts must -consider the rtotality of the

circumstancesrr not just whether minority candidates have achieved some

degree of electoral successr' said Edwards.

The Justice Department argued that recent minority electoral success

precluded a violation of Section 2.

'The Courtrs decision is another blow to the Reagan Administration's
attempts to scale back our Nationrs civil rights protectionsr" Edwards said.

"Voting rights cases are complex, and the discrimination involved is
often quite subtler" said Edwards. 'We recognized this when Congress

amended and strengthened the Act in 1982, and instructed the courts to
,:^:: lier aII of circiinisi-re,rc€s irrvt-riv,ri.-

Edwards and a bipartisan coalition of Voting Rights Act co-sponsors,

including Senate Majority Leader Robert DoIe and Congressman James

Sensenbrenner, filed an amicus brief with the Court, urging it to uphold the

decision of the North Carolina federal court.

Stuart Ishimaru
(202\ 226-7580

86-31

#*t

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Correspondence from Edwards to Chambers; Voting Rights Act Upheld, Decision Hailed News Release from Congressman Don Edwards

Matter

Case

U.S. state

Collection

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in