Former Attorney General Eric Holder accused Republicans of “performance mourning” the loss of Georgia Rep. John Lewis because they do not support his election legislation.
Holder, a Democrat, wrote an opinion piece published Monday by the Washington Post in which he highlighted the many Republicans in Congress who had expressed their grief over Lewis’s death last week. Holder claimed that the GOP lawmakers were not sincere in their mourning because they were “smothering his life’s goal” by blocking H.R.4, a bill that strengthens the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Many House Republicans extolled his leadership — Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called John Lewis ‘a patriot in the truest sense’ — even though all but one voted against the new voting rights bill, his most precious, urgent priority,” Holder wrote.
“Brian Kemp, who became governor of Rep. Lewis’s own state of Georgia through a campaign that leaned on system manipulation and voter suppression, called him a ‘Civil Rights hero, freedom fighter, devoted public servant, and beloved Georgian who changed our world in a profound way.’ Enough. This is all little more than performance mourning,” he added.
Holder argued that Republicans “cannot honor the man or his life’s work” if they oppose Lewis’s legislation. Republicans have argued that the bill strips power from the states by requiring at least 11 states to seek congressional approval before they can amend their local election laws.
The former attorney general said Republicans must pass Lewis’s legislation if they want their mourning to be believed.
“If the leaders of our nation want to demonstrate their sincerity about honoring his legacy as a man of word and deed, they can pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act that languishes in the Senate, name it for John Lewis and make it the law of the land,” Holder wrote. “No other tribute is worthy of his life, and no other outcome is adequate for his legacy.”
