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Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
Thu Jul 25, 2013, 07:56 PM Jul 2013

Attorney General Holder and Section 3 of Voting Rights Act

The announcement by Attorney General Holder that the DOJ is seeking to apply Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act to Texas is a big deal and carries some risk. Section 3 of the voting rights act is the bail in section where courts can force a jurisdiction to submit changes for preclearance. http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/25/19678352-holder-justice-dept-will-contest-texas-redistricting?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=4

"This request to 'bail in' the state -- and require it to obtain pre-approval from either the department or a federal court before implementing future voting changes -- is available under the Voting Rights Act when intentional voting discrimination is found," he said.

"We believe that the State of Texas should be required to go through a pre-clearance process whenever it changes its voting laws and practices."


In the filing with the Federal Court, the DOJ raises a number of reasons why preclearance is necessary for Texas http://txredistricting.org/post/56451053952/dojs-court-filing-on-section-3 The pleading and brief filed here is well done and there are good facts to show that Texas needs to be subject to preclearance

I love the fact that Abbott, Goodhair, Senator Box Turtle and others are very upset by this filing. http://txredistricting.org/post/56440055042/reactions-from-texas-members-of-congress-on-the-latest and http://txredistricting.org/post/56436751447/gov-perrys-press-statement-on-dojs-section-3-move

Gov. Rick Perry’s press statement responding to DOJ’s move on section 3:

"Once again, the Obama Administration is demonstrating utter contempt for our country’s system of checks and balances, not to mention the U.S. Constitution. This end-run around the Supreme Court undermines the will of the people of Texas, and casts unfair aspersions on our state’s common-sense efforts to preserve the integrity of our elections process."


The DOJ's use of Section 3 is high risk in that the SCOTUS may review this section but has the potential of stopping the Texas voter id law

The state of Texas has made clear it will fight the DOJ’s efforts, and argues that both Section 3 and Section 5 are unconstitutional. That means they could appeal directly to the Supreme Court if civil rights advocates succeed at “bailing in” Texas. “It would go as a direct appeal to the Supreme Court,” Hasen said. “And I think the Supreme Court would take the case.”

If Texas wins the case, it’s unclear if DOJ would appeal. But if it loses, it’s all but certain Texas will appeal. In a statement Thursday, Gov. Rick Perry (R) slammed Holder’s move as reflecting “utter contempt for our country’s system of checks and balances” and said that an “end run around the Supreme Court undermines the will of the people of Texas.”

The Justice Department sees this as the first step in their efforts to crack down on voter discrimination with the tools they still have under the Voting Rights Act. Officials are closely watching other state-level moves, such as the voter ID push in North Carolina. Part of the aim is to fire a warning shot to states and make clear that they’ll face DOJ pushback if they seek to exploit the Supreme Court decision.


This will be a fun fight to watch.


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