Sunday Read -- Messing With Texas Edition

Stephen Stromberg in the once great Washington Post Kaplan Daily on the Attorney General's decision to enforce what's left of the Voting Rights Act in Texas:

If you believe a handful of Texas Republicans, Attorney General Eric Holder’s new effort to enforce the Voting Rights Act in their state and elsewhere brazenly defies the Supreme Court, which struck down part of the law in June. “This end run around the Supreme Court undermines the will of the people of Texas,” Gov. Rick Perry said.

“The Supreme Court message to the Justice Department was clear — don’t mess with Texas,” Rep. Lamar Smith insisted. “But Eric Holder and the Justice Department aren’t listening.”

It would be amazing if that’s actually what Chief Justice John Roberts and the court majority said. But, in reality, the attorney general’s move to use the Voting Rights Act provisions the Supreme Court left in place is perfectly consonant with the ruling, and not just in a technical sense. It also comports with the court’s logic. Anyone who says otherwise didn’t read it, didn’t understand it, or didn’t let that stop him. Lamar Smith apparently confused the 24-page decision with an asinine bumper sticker.

The recent (Democratic) voter suppression law passed in North Carolina by the Rethuglican state legislature is certain to receive the same treatment, as should every state and jurisdiction that has taken the decision in Shelby County v Holder to mean it can proceed full speed backward in denying the vote to people they don't want to see at the polls.

Texas' Voter Suppression Law Blocked

Rethuglican state legislatures across the country have been passing voter suppression laws, in order to tilt the field in their favor by making it much harder for traditional Democratic constituencies to vote. In the old South, racists passed poll tax and literacy laws that discouraged African American voters. Now, it's more subtle. For example, do you suppose that low income people and minorities are less likely to own cars than white voters, and therefore would lack drivers licenses for identification to vote? You got it.

Finally, the tide seems to be turning. The Justice Department refused to preclear Texas' photo ID law, which would have discriminated against Hispanic voters. Texas has sued to have the law accepted under the Federal Voting Rights Act, but if the Justice Department remains firm, this little piece of nasty business on the part of Texas Rethuglicans will fail.