I was going to relax today and enjoy my 66 years of life…..but….NO! News just had to come out that I could not turn my back on……
By now most of America has heard about the court’s screwing of the Voters Rights Act (VRA)….how long will it be before we have a rush of Repub controlled states with new laws on Voter ID or times to vote or early registration or a lessening of polling sites….
The Brennan Center for Justice called these schemes “the biggest rollback in voting rights since the Jim Crow era.” Those measures included voter ID laws that disproportionately impact minority and Democratic Party voters.
Most of the states passing restrictive voter ID laws are in the South and are covered under Section 5. Voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina (as well as in Wisconsin) were struck down by the courts prior to the 2012 elections. Moreover, in Texas a federal court recently refused to clear the state legislature’s redistricting plan, finding “the new lines intentionally discriminated against minorities.” Because of Section 5, Texas was blocked from racial gerrymandering.
How long will it be?
Rather, the Court’s conservative majority has taken advantage of a gap in the Constitution that must be addressed.
The Court’s 5-4 ruling invalidated the formula used to determine which states come under the requirement that changes to voting laws, procedures and polling place locations in all or part of fifteen targeted states be approved in advance by the Justice Department or a panel of federal judges. The ruling says that Congress went too far in seeking to prevent racial discrimination in voting when it reauthorized the historic act in 2006, with votes of 98-0 in the Senate and 390-33 in the House.
The argument I hear most about all this voter suppression stuff is that the system, state Repub system, is doing all they can to secure the ‘integrity’ of the institution of voting….to hear them talk voter fraud is running rampant…….that is so much crap! That is kinda like the racist that says he has lots of ‘black’ friends….we know he is lying……the integrity thing is a dog whistle to help sooth the nerves of voters……my retort to this argument is….if we keep one qualified person from voting then all integrity has been lost!
Dems have promised to go through Congress to reinstate VRA…..that ought to be a hoot and half…….Clowns arguing with mimes!
But not to worry! SCOTUS has made all right by voting 5-4 to find DOMA unconstitutional…….!
