Congress reauthorizes Voting Rights Act for 25 years; Bush signs the Fannie Lou Hamer Act

Congress reauthorizes the Voting Rights Act for 25 years on July 27, 2006, with near-unanimous bipartisan votes — 390-33 in the House and 98-0 in the Senate. The reauthorization, named the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, César E. Chávez, Barbara C. Jordan, William C. Velásquez, and Lawrence Ramirez Voting Rights Reauthorization and Amendments Act, also overturns two Supreme Court decisions that had narrowed Section 5: Reno v. Bossier Parish (2000) and Georgia v. Ashcroft (2003). President George W. Bush signs the bill at a Rose Garden ceremony attended by civil rights leaders. The reauthorization maintains the same coverage formula first established in 1965, which will later be challenged in Shelby County v. Holder.