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The Justice Department will beef up its civil rights unit as part of an aggressive effort to fight policies and legislation that restrict voter access and discriminate against marginalized voters, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.
"To meet the challenge of the current moment, we must re-dedicate the resources of the Department of Justice to a critical part of its original mission: enforcing federal law to protect the franchise for all eligible voters," Garland said, noting a recent wave of legislation in several states that restrict voter access.
Garland said within the next 30 days, the department will double the enforcement staff of the civil rights unit, a powerful division within the agency that investigates hate crimes, police abuses and other civil rights violations.
The 2016 election showed us how powerful voter supression can be, in terms of preventing groups of people from voting. In contrast, the most recent election showed us how powerful voting is, in terms of turning the country's political landscape largely from red to blue, as well as how necessary it is to enforce existing legislation that expressly prevents unfair restrictions on voting.
Over the next few weeks, we should pay close attention to what standard the Justice Department is using to address these recent new laws in the states mentioned in Wa'il's post, and others, and see how effectivly they intervene in those new laws being passed.