" Section 3 of the law allows the DOJ to “bail in” jurisdictions under
preclearance if it manages to prove that the jurisdiction acted with the intent — not merely the effect — of discriminating against minorities."
It’s nearly impossible to prove intent. It’s a good thing this Supreme Court wasn’t around during the Civil Rights era. It would have upheld the poll taxes (intent: pay for the costs of running the elections) and literacy tests (intent: to ensure voters were educated enough to understand what they are voting for). While it would have been difficult to prove the real intent of Jim Crow laws was to prevent black people from gaining political power, it’s equally difficult to prove that the intent of the new conservative voting laws is to take that power away from them.
Right-wingers cannot help themselves. They know that the only way for them to win is to lie, cheat, and steal elections in any way possible. So they do.
OTH. The RATS are of the same ilk.
The GOP cheats—regularly, by intent, and in any way they can.
Without this cheating, Republicans cannot win an election.
Fair elections scare the shit out of conservatives—because they know they have no prayer in Heaven of winning a fair election.
It’s well past time to stop using assorted euphemisms for Republican attempts at permanently tilting the playing field in their favor.
Republicans cheat.
Republicans lie.
Republicans are fundamentally dishonest.
Republicans do not deserve to win if they cannot win fairly.
“There’s always a question of whose intent matters because these are
collective decisions. So if you just have a statement of discriminatory
intent by one of [sic] two actors then it’s difficult to make the claim that
the collective body has discriminatory intent. So that’s the judgment
you have to make,” he said. “I would expect the 5th Circuit and Supreme
Court to take a skeptical view of findings of discriminatory purpose.
They’re going to closely scrutinize the record to see if there really
was a discriminatory purpose.”
Sadly, I would expect those courts to point to one or two actors who state that the purpose of the rules is to prevent/reduce voter fraud and then declare that the legislature has not been shown to have collective intent. There won’t be any close scrutiny, I believe.
RATs? Are you using the GOP insult towards Democrats, and painting us with the same brush? Kindly point out which states under Democratic control have acted to either restrict voting or expand it so that your cat can vote.
I agree. The far right turn to anti-Americanism will pass but it will take the GOP down and bury it. Already Republicans are synonymous with low life bigots and greedy billionaires. They are in deep trouble and it is only going to get worse.
So if you are saying that you feel MY ability to vote can in any way be manipulated and/or tampered with… I invite you to come to my “neck of the woods” and try –
Legally, the standard is very high to bring a state back in. The SCOTUS knew this when they struck down pre-clearance.
I hope the record before Judge Ramos was packed with evidence of discriminatory impact. Without a lot of evidence, the 5th and SC will reverse. If there’s a lot of evidence in the record, maybe it will give John Roberts pause. I believe he does care about his legacy and the results of striking down pre-clearance should give any fair-minded person pause.
The 5th Circuit—the most conservative in the nation—might reverse the ruling, but the Supremes will be hard-pressed to justify a similar conclusion given the facts.
Kennedy isn’t always a reliable conservative vote when the evidence is this strong.
