; Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 also required jurisdictions with a history of voter suppression to obtain preclearance from the Federal Government for any new voting practice or procedure; Whereas, in 1969, 4 years after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 61 percent of nationwide voter-age African Americans were registered to vote, up substantially from the pre-1965 level of 23 percent nationally; Whereas, in 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, invalidated the preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; Whereas, since 2013, States that were previously subject to preclearance have enacted strict voter identification requirements, restricted opportunities for people to register to vote, reduced early or absentee voting, and made it harder to restore voting rights to people with criminal convictions; Whereas, in 1870, Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi and Congressman Joseph Rainey of South Carolina became the first African Americans to serve in the United States Congress; Whereas Senator Edward Brooke III became the first African American popularly elected to the Senate and the first Black politician from Massachusetts to serve in Congress, and prior to being elected to the Senate, he was the first African-American attorney general of any State in 1962; Whereas Senator Brooke’s election ended an 85-year absence of African-American Senators and he represented Massachusetts in the Senate from 1967 to 1979, and during his senatorial career, he co-wrote the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in housing; Whereas Judge Frank Minis Johnson, Jr., served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, and in each capacity, Judge Johnson courageously worked to advance the constitutional principles of freedom and equality