President Biden said Friday that the Justice Department is “taking a look” at a new restrictive voting law in Georgia that he and other Democrats have sharply criticized.
“We’re working on that right now,” Biden told reporters upon landing in New Castle, Del., when asked if there was anything the White House could do on voting rights in Georgia. “We don’t know quite exactly what we can do at this point. The Justice Department’s taking a look as well.”
Biden’s comments suggested the Justice Department may be considering legal action against the Georgia law, but he did not expand on them. The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for more information.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki earlier Friday noted that groups would likely challenge the law in court but did not provide any information on efforts by the administration to do so.
“Obviously, there’s a range of groups and organizations that may take legal action that will be leading in activism. Some of that is going to be more appropriate from outside of the White House,” Psaki told reporters. She also noted that Biden is engaging with Congress on legislation aimed at making it easier to vote and upholding voting rights.
The new measures were signed into law by Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday evening and were quickly hit with a legal challenge from voting rights groups.
The Republican-backed law includes a range of new restrictions on voting — such as limits on the use of ballot drop boxes, photo identification requirements for absentee voting — and comes after the GOP endured significant defeats in the 2020 election and January Senate runoffs.
Biden in a statement earlier Friday decried the new law as “Jim Crow in the 21st century” and accused Republicans of trying to enact an “un-American law to deny people the right to vote.”
“This law, like so many others being pursued by Republicans in statehouses across the country is a blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience,” Biden said in a statement issued by the White House.
“This is Jim Crow in the 21st century. It must end. We have a moral and constitutional obligation to act,” he said.