There They Go Again

Republicans and their legal allies are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to end forcing "states and localities with a history of discrimination to submit changes in their voting process and procedures to Department of Justice or a federal D.C. district court for approval (preclearance)" in Northwest Austin (Texas) Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder, a potentially landmark case specifically challenging Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its 2006 congressional reauthorization signed into law by president Bush.

It's not that Republicans dislike black people. It's just that the political operatives don't like the way black people vote, though civil rights advocates don't see the distinction very well. [Graphic above is from Charles Franklin at Pollster.com.]

But wrong voting is why Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (John McCain 2008 co-chair) and the GOP's voter obstruction program last year was directed at black people. [The GOP takes what it can get. See Suppressing the Vote in Florida for a new vote-suppression tactic, and Van Hollen's 2008 case in which the GOP struck out.]

Those discrete American minorities—like black people—don't they realize that racism is a relic from time gone by, and has been since Reconstruction? Affirmative action, civil rights, voting rights legislation, c'mon we don't need that stuff anymore.

I mean Obama won some 43 percent of the white vote nationwide; okay, so Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana white voters went for Obama in the low teens', but they love black people down there. Just ask Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (Republican) whose amicus brief objects to his state being included in the 2006 congressional reauthorization: "By renewing Alabama’s coverage in 2006, Congress wrongly equated Alabama’s modern government, and its people, with their Jim Crow ancestors."

[Speaking of history, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed with the help of northern Republicans and here's one northern Republican who is carrying on that tradition: Rep. James Sensenbrenner who represents a Milwaukee-area district. See Voting Rights Act has passionate, strong advocate in Sensenbrenner (Diana Marrero, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). Kudos to Sensenbrenner.]

The usual suspects, uppity-black-civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights , liberals like the the Brennan Center and the Obama administration are trying to convince us that racism still exists in America, that we still need the Voting Rights Act.

Orals are on April 29, and a five-four decision either way looks possible, though the case could be decided on a question of Congressional authority with votes scattered about.

Perhaps we can take solace in 2012: General Petraeus, please save us from this socialist black man!
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Covered jurisdictions under the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 are as follows (from the NAACP):

Section 5 applies to any state or county where a literacy test was used as of November 1, 1964, and where less than 50% of the voting age residents of the jurisdiction were registered to vote, or actually voted, in the presidential election of 1964, 1968, or 1972. Currently, Section 5 affects all or part of 16 states: All of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Most of Virginia, 4 counties in California, 5 counties in Florida, 2 townships in Michigan, 10 towns in New Hampshire, 3 counties in New York, 40 counties in North Carolina, and three counties in South Dakota.