Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Jim Crow Is Dead, Get Over It

Hearing people on the Left whine today about what a setback the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder striking down the preclearance formula that currently only applies to some southern states means for voting rights is somewhat like the recurring false prophecies of end times visited upon us with regularity. Rational minds point out that the Court's 5-4 majority simply reached a conclusion Congress' great partisan divide won't allow it to reach: Jim Crow is dead.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, acknowledged that the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 employed extraordinary measures to deal with an extraordinary problem existing in that era with some southern states going to great means to deprive black Americans the right to vote. Essentially, Congress' continual re-authorizations of the original act, which was only intended as a temporary measure when first enacted, have been based on outdated data and circumstances despite overwhelming evidence that the evils sought to be remedied are non-existent today.

Section 5 of the Act establishes the system for requiring some states to seek authorization from the Justice Department before enacting any state law regarding voting. Section 4 of the Act, which the Court struck down today, established the formula for determining which states were required to seek preclearance before enacting any voting law. The original formula covered seven states: Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia. Counties within a number of other states with large minority populations have been added in subsequent re-authorizations, although certain jurisdictions have been able to bail out of the Act's coverage over the years.

Because election laws have increasingly become federalized, particularly with respect to the voter registration process, the election laws among the state have become much more uniform. Yet the Voting Rights Act continued to rely on a formula based on data that was nearly a half-century old. Black voter turnout actually exceeds white voter turnout in all but one of the original states covered by the Act; the gap in the remaining state is statistically insignificant. The fact is that the conditions that originally justified the extreme measures employed by the original law no longer exist as Chief Justice Roberts pointed out in his opinion.

What we've seen happening under the most partisan Justice Departments in the modern history of the country under Eric Holder was an arbitrary denial of the right of the states affected by the Act to enact voter integrity laws that other states have been able to enact, like Indiana's Voter ID law, which the Supreme Court has upheld. Frankly, instead of securing the right to vote, the Justice Department seems more determined to warp the right by seemingly supporting policies that promote, not protect against vote fraud, which is an equally valid concern.

Justice Ginsberg's dissenting opinion rests primarily on the basis of who gets to decide whether the extraordinary measures contained in the Act are sill needed. She thinks Congress should get to make that decision and the Court should defer to Congress, the opposite from the judicial activist role she normally advocates when it comes to ensuring rights. The reality is that Congress can't change the law because anyone who has dared to step forward and recognize the changed circumstances is lambasted as a racist who wants to revert to the days of Jim Crow. Showing their true colors, several liberal Democratic officials and leftist commentators lashed out at the Court's only black justice, Clarence Thomas, referring to him derisively as "Uncle Thomas."

The majority got it right. Congress can't simply continue to dictate voting laws to a handful of states when the evidence suggests those states are no more susceptible to administering their voting laws in a discriminatory fashion than the rest of the states.

1 comment:

CircleCityScribe said...

In reviewing recent published convictions....many posted on AI, I don't think ANYONE can disagree with the finding!

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The Blaze reports recently:

A 'Culture of Corruption’: Four Indiana Democrats Found Guilty of Petition Fraud
Jun. 18, 2013 7:30pm Becket Adams

Four Democrats in South Bend, Ind., were sentenced Monday in a petition fraud case dating back to the 2008 primary election, ABC 57 reports.

The four were found guilty of forging petition signatures to ensure that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made it onto the state’s primary ballot. The fraud wasn’t uncovered for nearly three years.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Democratic Poll Worker In Hamilton County, Ohio Pleads Guilty To Casting Multiple Illegal Absentee Ballots

A Madisonville, Ohio Democratic poll worker gained national attention after prosecutors charged her with casting multiple absentee ballots for family members and she candidly and proudly admitted she had done so when questioned by reporters in order to help Obama win re-election.

Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Democrat Mike Marshall Sentenced To Jail Time For Absentee Vote Fraud Racket

Former Democratic State Rep. Mike Marshall operated one of the biggest absentee vote fraud rackets in Indiana history. His ability to deliver votes in Southern Indiana made him a political star in Indiana Democratic Party circles. Today, Jennings Co. Circuit Court Judge Jon Webster sentenced the 60-year old Marshall to 18 months in prison with nine months of his sentence suspended.

Gary City Council Member Agrees To Plead Guilty To Federal Tax Evasion Charges

Gary city councilwoman Marilyn Krusas has admitted that she failed to file a federal income tax return since 1991, or to pay taxes on more than $232,000 in money she inherited, according to federal prosecutors. Under a plea agreement Krusas reached with federal prosecutors reported by the Northwest Indiana Times, she will admit to failing to pay between $80,000 and $200,000 in federal income taxes. If the federal judge in the case accepts her guilty plea to one felony charge of income tax evasion, she will be forced to forfeit her seat on the council, which she has held since 2000.

Sunday, April 21, 2013
Hammond Council Member Enters Guilty Plea On Bribery Charges

Six months after Hammond city council member Al Salinas was indicted by federal authorities in the northern district of Indiana for accepting money from a tree-trimming contractor in exchange for routing $310,000 in local gaming revenues to the company, he has agreed to plead guilty to two of the charges according to the Northwest Indiana Times. Nonetheless, he plans to hold on to his office as long as the law legally allows him to keep it.

Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) was indicted for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old campaign volunteer in August 1994. Instead of demanding his resignation, Democrats rallied to his defense and played the race card and the "nuts and sluts" defense ala Bill Clinton. "Deny, deny, deny. Attack, attack attack." That's the Democratic mantra when one of their own is accused of wrongdoing.

Reynolds was inexplicably re-elected by the voters of his district. The following August he was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. He waited another three months after his conviction before he resigned. While he was in prison, he was convicted on other crimes for bank fraud. And for being such a nice guy, President Bill Clinton rewarded him on his way out of office by commuting his sentence to time-served.