After siding with Republicans to vote down a one-time change in Senate filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) is touting Alabama football coach, Nick Saban’s opposition to the rule change.
“Coach Saban is exactly right: you cannot throw the filibuster out and expect the legislative process to work better. I wholeheartedly agree with the coaches that ‘Our democracy is at its best when all Americans are encouraged to participate,’” Manchin said.
Saban and other West Virginia sports figures signed a letter to Manchin urging him to support voting rights legislation ahead of the filibuster vote in the Senate.
“We come from some of our Nation’s most popular sports leagues, conferences and teams. Some of us have roots and shaped our lives in West Virginia, others followed very different paths and some of us have been rivals in sports or business. But we are all certain that democracy is best when voting is open to everyone on a level playing field; the referees are neutral; and at the end of the game the final score is respected and accepted,” they wrote in their letter, which was sent on Manchin on Tuesday.
However, CNN reported that Saban expressed his opposition to changing filibuster rules in a footnote that was sent to the senators but not made public.
“Coach Saban is not in favor of getting rid of the filibuster in the Senate. He believes this will destroy the checks and balances we must have in this Democracy. The others signing this letter take no position on this aspect of Senate policies,” the footnote reads.
Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he and Saban agreed on Friday to keep the footnote out of the letter that was made public “since the letter focused on the merits of the Freedom to Vote Act and the filibuster had not been discussed with everyone signing the letter,” according to AL.com.
Democratic lawmakers including Manchin were under pressure from civil rights leaders, Martin Luther King Jr.’s family and President Biden to change the Senate’s filibuster rules to pass the legislation.
Yet, Manchin, touted a football coach’s support for an archaic Jim Crow relic to bolster his argument for opposing the rule change and killing voting rights legislation in the Senate.
Manchin was joined by fellow Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and all 50 Republican senators to oppose the a one-time carve out of the filibuster to pass the voting rights bill in response to restrictive voting legislation passed by Republican controlled legislatures across the country.
