The guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin was met with shock from some New York lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-Brooklyn, said she had been sitting on pins and needles before the announcement. “It’s like a new day, and I hope that the trend continues that justice finally is blind,” she said. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-The Bronx/Queens, argued that, in light of the video documenting George Floyd’s death, the fact there was any doubt about what the verdict might be “speaks to the deep work that we have to do in changing our system.”

Ocasio-Cortez and others say the verdict is only a first step: police reforms are needed.

“We’re not going to get justice through verdicts, we have to fight for justice through policy and systemic change,” she told NY1.

In light of Floyd’s passing, the U.S. House has twice passed police reform legislation - once last year, and a second time earlier this year. The bill, named in Floyd’s honor, includes restrictions on choke holds and training mandates. It also reforms qualified immunity.

“We didn’t get justice for Eric Garner, but in his memory, we fought for justice for George Floyd,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-Brooklyn-Queens. “Because of the death of Eric Garner and so many others, we’re going to work to change the laws in America so we can change America.”

But the fate of reform legislation is very much up in the air.

Last Congress, the reform effort stalled in the Senate. It is an open question if the bill or some other compromise measure will get through the Senate this Congress. Doing so would require Republican buy-in to bypass the filibuster.

Some Democrats are calling for doing away or modifying that 60-vote rule.

“We need to find the Democratic votes to repeal or reform the filibuster so we can finally get some semblance of legislative justice for the families, like that of George Floyd,” said Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-Westchester County/Rockland County.