Voter Discrimination is a Bad Idea

January 3, 2012

Today, a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District Columbia, upheld the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires states with a history of voter suppression to seek approval before implementing changes to their voting laws. Voter suppression as now openly found in so many states such as Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Florida and a couple dozen more states are considering ways to make it more difficult to vote such as Voter ID laws. Hopefully this will help the Federal courts address any future problems with those laws.

This case started in September 2011, where Shelby County, Alabama told the court, that Congress exceeded its authority to enforce the Fourteen and Fifteenth Amendments. They filed a law suit to block the actions of the U.S. Attorney General who was trying to uphold the Voting Rights Act.

Luckily, the court decide the egregiousness of past laws proved the law was still needed. Section 5 - Pre-clearance of the Voting Rights Act survives another test. This was a test of decency and democracy, something Republicans do not support.

Now, states with Voter ID requirements must show the law is NOT discriminatory and its redistricting plans must not abridge citizen rights. The court reaffirmed it is the stat's burden to show their laws are non-discriminatory.

Few conservatives will acknowledge this decision because it counters their belief that photo ID is good and does not discriminate and hope the state they are from will not have to be pre-cleared. Heck, they are people who think blacks should not have any right to vote.

From Wikipedia:

The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (i.e., slavery). It was ratified on February 3, 1870.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution