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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsQuelle Surprise! The voter suppression hijinks have already begun......
ATLANTA -- Across the South, Republicans are working to take advantage of a new political landscape after a divided U.S. Supreme Court freed all or part of 15 states, many of them in the old Confederacy, from having to ask Washington's permission before changing election procedures in jurisdictions with histories of discrimination.
After the high court announced its momentous ruling Tuesday, officials in Texas and Mississippi pledged to immediately implement laws requiring voters to show photo identification before getting a ballot. North Carolina Republicans promised they would quickly try to adopt a similar law. Florida now appears free to set its early voting hours however Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP Legislature please. And Georgia's most populous county likely will use county commission districts that Republican state legislators drew over the objections of local Democrats.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 5-4 opinion that struck down as outdated a key provision of the landmark 1965 law credited with ensuring ballot access to millions of black Americans, American Indians and other minorities. Roberts' opinion gives Congress an opportunity to retool the law's so-called preclearance sections that give the U.S. Justice Department veto power over local elections. But the prospects of a quick fix seem uncertain, at best, given stark ideological divides on Capitol Hill on a host of matters.
Southern Republicans largely hailed Roberts' opinion as recognition of racial progress since President Lyndon Johnson signed the law at the apex of the civil rights movement. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/voting-rights-act-states_n_3502062.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
Cleita
(75,480 posts)When are, we the people, going to start defending our rights? Georgians and the rest of the states having their voting rights taken from them should be flooding the streets to stop this.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)I wouldn't be much bothered by this decision; I would instead simple advocate for a requirement that all states meet the same requirements before they could pass voter-restriction laws. Racially biased voting laws are not unique to the South; the Republicans are moving to institute them everywhere. Wisconsin already had part of a redistricting plsn knocked down because it discriminated against Milwaukee's Latino population.
sigmasix
(794 posts)Why isnt the new member outrage contingent all over this particular threat to freedom in America? They demand that they aren't agents of the right wing attack on the president- they are simple democrats that are upset over NSA activities that will deny freedom to Americans. The actions of the scotus will disenfrachise the voting rights of millions of Americans- this is a more immediate threat to American liberty than the partisan-inflated "scandals" the right wing is floating.
I guess we now know what it takes to register outrage for the new DU members that can't bash the president enough. They arent democrats and they certainly arent progressive- why do we allow thier continued lies and membership? If they believe that president Obama is a danger to American liberty, but refrain from experiencing outrage about the larger threat to American liberties represented by this SCOTUS decision, then it is obvious that most of the DU Obama bashers never supported him, and have been working for the enemy when they post Alex Jones-approved conspiracy theories and fox "news" narratives about president Obama.
Why are Teabaggers so afraid of confessing thier true political allignment?
UTUSN
(70,779 posts)librechik
(30,678 posts)that the people will finally rise up and demand reform!
Ha ha, what am I saying. They gave us DOMA to distract us while they blatantly removed our other civil rights.
Elections are now going to become totally impossible. The rich fascists will continue their takeover unopposed.