Draggingtree Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Chicago Tribune: Texas to test 1965 voting rights law in court Drew Singer Reuters 10:54 a.m. CDT, July 8, 2012 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Voting Rights Act - a cherished safeguard for minority voters since 1965 - has been under siege for two years and this week faces one of its toughest test on an apparent path to the U.S. Supreme Court. Twenty-five hours of argument, starting on Monday and spread over five days, will help the judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decide whether Texas can require voters to present a photo identification at the polls. Formulated at a time of racial turmoil, the Voting Rights Act passed 77-19 in the U.S. Senate and 333-85 in the House of Representatives. The votes transcended party lines to protect black voters of all political ideals. Ever since, it has served as the U.S. government's chief check on the fairness of election rules imposed by local governments. While it passed with bipartisan support more than 45 years ago, a shift in political preferences along racial lines has turned the landmark piece of civil rights era legislation into a highly charged political issue. In the 1960s, Democrats held a monopoly of voters in the Southern states. But since then, most white Southern voters have shifted allegiances to the Republican Party, while black and Hispanic voters moved further toward the left. That shift did not fully manifest itself until congressional redistricting last year, Nathaniel Persily, a professor at Columbia Law School, wrote in a to-be-released article in the Stanford Law & Policy Review. There have been more challenges to the Voting Rights Act in the past two years than in the previous 45 years combined. Among those challenges have been a redistricting case in Alabama and Florida's purging of voter lists of non-citizens earlier this year. "We're seeing people who previously supported the act and what it stood for are now bringing challenges to it," said Ryan Haygood, director of the Political Participation Group at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. THIS WEEK'S TRIAL In March, the Obama administration blocked a Texas law passed in 2011 requiring voters to http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-texas-voterbre86706w-20120708,0,6132745.story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggingtree Posted July 9, 2012 Author Share Posted July 9, 2012 Tainted Data in Texas Voter ID Showdown, Republicans Say Published July 08, 2012 Fox News Latino Washington Correspondent for Fox News. Watch James Rosen's video report above. Rosen is the Chief Washington Correspondent for Fox News. A legal showdown between the Texas and the Justice Department begins on Monday but before anyone steps into the courtroom, one lawmaker is already cross-examining the Attorney General's star witness. Attorney General Eric Holder is fighting in court to block Texas from enacting the voter law the Lone Star state passed last year which requires registered voters to possess a valid state-issued Photo ID. Proponents say it'll help curb voter fraud. The nation's top law enforcement officer disagrees. "We objected to a photo ID requirement in Texas because it would have had a disproportionate impact on Hispanic voters," Holder said. To prove that, the Department of Justice retained snip Read More http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/07/08/texas-voter-id-showdown-is-it-tainted/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggingtree Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 DOJ Witness Can Fly to Washington, But Can’t Get Voter ID By J. Christian Adams July 11th, 2012 - 2:19 pm This is too much. The Justice Department actually called a witness in the Texas Voter ID trial today in Washington, D.C. The witness complained she couldn’t find the time to get her parents to drive her to get the free photo ID, but she obviously had time to fly to Washington, D.C., from Texas to testify at trial! Henry Jackson writes at the Associated Press. Victoria Rose Rodriguez, 18, told a federal court in Washington that she had limited documentation — a birth certificate, a high school transcript and a student ID card with a photo on it — but is currently a registered voter in Texas. She said her parents are too busy to take her or her twin sister to get the new voter identification cards required by the law. Naturally, Henry Jackson doesn’t seem to note this obvious laugher, that Rodriguez has parents too busy to get the ID, but can hop a plane in San Antonio and spend at least a day in Washington, D.C., and Read More http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/07/11/doj-witness-can-fly-to-washington-but-cant-get-voterid/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 DOJ Witness Can Fly to Washington, But Can’t Get Voter ID By J. Christian Adams July 11th, 2012 - 2:19 pm This is too much. The Justice Department actually called a witness in the Texas Voter ID trial today in Washington, D.C. The witness complained she couldn’t find the time to get her parents to drive her to get the free photo ID, but she obviously had time to fly to Washington, D.C., from Texas to testify at trial! Henry Jackson writes at the Associated Press. Victoria Rose Rodriguez, 18, told a federal court in Washington that she had limited documentation — a birth certificate, a high school transcript and a student ID card with a photo on it — but is currently a registered voter in Texas. She said her parents are too busy to take her or her twin sister to get the new voter identification cards required by the law. Naturally, Henry Jackson doesn’t seem to note this obvious laugher, that Rodriguez has parents too busy to get the ID, but can hop a plane in San Antonio and spend at least a day in Washington, D.C., and Read More http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/07/11/doj-witness-can-fly-to-washington-but-cant-get-voterid/ "There was a time in the Voting Section when the DOJ wouldn’t introduce such absurd evidence. The conversation would go something like this: Young lawyer: I want to call Victoria Rodriguez. Her parents are too busy to give her a ride to get photo ID. They don’t have the 30 minutes to spare. Older seasoned lawyer: Well, do you really think that is a good idea? Don’t you think we open ourselves up to a devastating cross examination about priorities? Young lawyer: I’m not sure I follow. Older seasoned lawyer: We’re not going to call her. Texas will point out the absurdity of us calling a witness to say she doesn’t have time to get a photo ID but can fly 2000 miles to testify at trial. Who took the time to drive her to the airport? We’d need to get her a cab to make this story work. Isn’t going to happen. It could prove embarrassing." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clearvision Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 And she got on a plane (thru TSA) without an official ID? Would a student ID work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggingtree Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 And she got on a plane (thru TSA) without an official ID? Would a student ID work? You know I never thought I'll ever live to see the day that our country would be so far messed up as we are having under this administration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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