Say Goodbye to the Voting Rights Act; Prepare to Fight For Your Right to Vote

[ProfessionalLeftist]

Happy Black History Month, eh? Pfft.

It's happening this morning. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments over the Voting Rights Act, and the outcome will determine whether Republican-led legislatures throughout the South are able to enact a 21st century version of Jim Crow.

The constitutionality of the law is being challenged, and specifically, section 5 of the law is under attack. That's the portion of the law that requires states with a history of voting discrimination to pre-clear with the Department of Justice before instituting them. It's a law that dealt firmly with the realities of racism, and painted those listed states with a racially discriminatory label that they rightly earned. The message from Congress back then was clear - you've proven that you will enact laws to keep minority voters from casting their votes, so you've not earned the benefit of the doubt that typically accompanies our version of judicial legislative review.

But if MSNBC is correct, it looks like section 5 is in serious danger. They're reporting that a couple of the important swing votes have shown a willingness to question the necessity of the restricted state list. It's difficult to know for certain how these things will turn out, and a Justice's line of questioning in oral argument does not always indicate his or her decision. But as this article notes, things are not looking great:

Both Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy, the likely swing votes, reportedly had concerns with the law. Williams reports that Kennedy said at one point during the hearings “The Marshall Plan was a good thing at one time but times change.”

The justices were apparently concerned with the fact that the law is too “backward looking” focused on the states with a history of racial discrimination. “Many of the justices said that the problems in the south aren’t as bad as they are in places in the north and it troubled them that the law doesn’t have any way to deal with that,” he said.

These very insulated Justices are making the following apparent argument - this law was necessary back when people in state legislatures were racist and politically-minded, but we've totally moved past that. Which sounds nice, until you realize it's completely inaccurate.

MORE...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/27/1190228/-Say-Goodbye-to-the-Voting-Rights-Act-Prepare-to-Fight-For-Your-Right-to-Vote

[unblock]

1. "it troubled them that the law doesn't have any way to deal with that"

oh, yeah, sure, what's really troubling to them is that the just WISH they could EXPAND the law to cover northern states as well.

damn it, they really wish they could do that and if the law provided for that, then they would be out in the streets supporting the law.

yeah, absolutely, that's what the right wing of the court wishes were the case and they are oh so troubled by the law not mentioning the other states.

[Gothmog]

2. Texas will face a very nasty voter id law if Section 5 falls

I am really worried about having to deal with a very restrictive voter id bill here in Texas if Section 5 is ruled to be unconstitutional. Without Section 5, a large number of Texans would have been denied the right to vote.