By Harry Colbert, Jr., Editor-in-Chief

As jury selection is underway in the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, a bill with the name of the man who died with Chauvin’s knee on his neck has made its way to the Senate.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 would lower the criminal standard of intent to prosecute a police officer for misconduct, limit qualified immunity as a defense in civil cases brought against officers and authorize the Department of Justice to issue subpoenas in investigations of police departments for a pattern or practice of discrimination. It would also create a national registry to compile data on complaints and records of police misconduct and establish a framework to prohibit racial profiling at the federal, state, and local levels.

If passed into law, the bill establishes new requirements for law enforcement to report data on use-of-force incidents, obtain training on implicit bias and racial profiling, and to wear body cameras.

While the Senate Democrats are on board, it has no support from Republicans, and though Democrats are the majority, a Senate filibuster rule could require 60 votes to pass the legislation. That doesn’t sit well with Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN). Smith is pushing to rid the Senate of the filibuster to pass the transformative legislation.

“It’s not right that a minority number of Republican senators could stop this,” said Smith in an interview with North News. “(The filibuster) is an arcane Senate rule rooted in Jim Crow and slavery.”

Though adopted in 1806, the filibuster was most widely used in the time leading up to, during and immediately following the Civil War. Smith said Republican senators no longer in the majority cannot hold up a bill so important.

“This bill is a big step in holding police accountable,” said Smith.

The junior senator from Minnesota is also pushing forth a bill she cosponsored to make Juneteenth a national holiday. She said that bill has bipartisan support in both chambers of the legislature and a pretty impressive name as one of the original cosponsors. The bill, which was reintroduced in the Senate on Feb. 26, was cosponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and former California senator, now vice president, Kamala Harris.

Juneteenth is the national celebration of the last slaves in Galveston, Tex. being told they were freed on June 19, 1865 even though President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. The 13th Amendment officially outlawed slavery Jan. 1, 1865.

Sen. Tina Smith calls for end of filibuster to pass ‘important’ civil rights legislation