FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 6, 2021
CONTACT: Lindsay Kee, 615-320-7142
WASHINGTON — While a dozen senators, including Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, have stated their plans to object when members of Congress meet today to count and confirm the Electoral College votes, the American Civil Liberties Union urges Congress to oppose the efforts led by President Trump to trample the will of the American electorate. The ACLU's position today is consistent with its position after the 2000 election, when it did not support efforts to block Congress from counting Florida's Electoral College votes for George W. Bush, despite disagreement with the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore.
According to Hedy Weinberg, ACLU of Tennessee executive director:
"We are deeply troubled by Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty choosing to attack the very foundation of democracy by undermining the will of voters. Tennessee’s two senators will violate their constitutional oath to protect and defend the Constitution if they, as they have promised, wrongly object to properly state-certified electoral votes. They will also inflict lasting damage to our democratic norms of self-governance. This effort is based on false allegations of voter fraud — a trope used throughout our country’s history to target the voting rights and political power of racial minorities, including Black and Brown voters in Tennessee. Despite over 60 lawsuits that were filed to subvert the will of the people, judges in both federal and state courts have unanimously rejected these challenges.
“The people have voted — even amidst a pandemic and despite deliberate barriers to the polls. It is time for members of Congress to do their job and, in accordance with the Constitution, count the votes for president and vice president that have been certified by the states. Voters — not the courts and not Congress — decide elections."
