Wingnuts on Supreme Court cast doubt on voting law

 

Wingnut Supreme Court justices on Wednesday signaled strong doubts about the ongoing validity of a key part of the Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 after a century of attempts by formerly slave-holding Southern states to block blacks from voting.

During a tense oral argument, which went beyond the scheduled one hour, the nine justices considered the claim made by officials from Shelby County, Alabama, that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was no longer needed.

Attempts to limit Section 5 come amid what critics call concerted efforts by Republicans at the state level to suppress the vote of blacks and other Democratic-minded demographic groups.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president, decried barriers to voting in America and announced a nonpartisan commission to address voting issues.

Section 5 enables Congress to exercise its authority under the Constitution's 15th Amendment, which gave blacks the right to vote, to require some states, mainly in the South, to show that any proposed election-law change would not discriminate against minority voters.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court's swing vote on racial issues, at one point during the argument said "times change" when it comes to weighing whether the nine states in question should be treated differently from other states.

This appeared to be a view shared by other justices on the wingnuts of the court, including Chief Justice John Roberts.

At one point, the chief justice asked the Obama administration's lawyer, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, if it was the government's position that "citizens in the South are more racist than citizens in the North." Verrilli said that was not the government's position.

Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the other wingnuts, said that the court should be skeptical of Congress' decision to reauthorize the law in 2006 because it would be politically damaging for politicians to vote against it.

He described the political phenomenon as the "perpetuation of racial entitlement" for minority voters.
The court's liberal justices mounted a spirited defense of the law, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor a vigorous and persistent questioner throughout. She referred to Shelby County as "the epitome of why this law was passed."