Courts & Law

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The U.S. Department of Justice has previously filed a Section 3 claim under the Voting Rights Act against the State of Texas for its discriminatory redistricting maps.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped the other shoe, as anticipated, suing the State of Texas for its Voter ID law. You can read the DOJ complaint
Here.

The Washington Post reports Justice Department sues Texas over voter ID law:

The Justice Department on Thursday redoubled its efforts to challenge
state voting laws, suing Texas over its new voter ID measure as part of
a growing political showdown over electoral rights.

The move marked the latest bid by the Obama administration to
counter a Supreme Court ruling that officials have said threatens the
voting rights of minorities. It also signaled that the administration
will probably take legal action in voting rights cases in other states,
including North Carolina, where the governor signed a voter ID law this
month.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Back in June, the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona struck down part of Arizona's Prop. 200 (2004) — the part which required proof of citizenship to register to vote, even when using the federal voter registration form which only requires an attestation of citizenship under penalty of perjury — on the grounds of federal preemption of state law.

You may recall that Justice Antonin Scalia in his opinion was helpful in providing a roadmap to the state of Arizona on how to proceed further with litigation in a manner that would meet with his approval. Scalia practically invited Arizona to try again.

Arizona has been following Justice Antonin Scalia's advice, and is now ready to file yet another lawsuit at taxpayer expense. Attorney General Tom Horne, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the actual author of Prop. 200 and SB 1070 (not Russell Pearce), are set to file the suit today in U.S. District Court.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Professor Richard L.
Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the
University of California, Irvine. Hasen is a nationally recognized
expert in election law and campaign finance regulation, and is co-author
of a leading casebook on election law. He is editor of the Election Law Blog.

Hasen writes at Slate today that "North Carolina’s new voter suppression law shows why the Voting Rights Act is still necessary." Supreme Error:

Usually it takes years to judge when the Supreme Court gets something very wrong. Think of Justice Kennedy’s opinion for the court in the 2010 campaign-finance case, Citizens United,
freeing corporations to spend money on elections. He wrote that the
“appearance of [corporate] influence or access will not cause the
electorate to lose faith in our democracy,” a point that remains hotly
debated even as the amount of money in federal elections skyrockets.

But the conservative justices’ decision this past June in Shelby County v. Holder, striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, has already unleashed in North Carolina the most restrictive voting law we’ve seen since the 1965 enactment of the VRA. Texas is restoring its voter ID law
which had been blocked (pursuant to the VRA) by the federal government.
And more is to come in other states dominated by Republican
legislatures.