Federal Court: DOJ Must Reimburse South Carolina for Voter ID Folly

[Draggingtree]

PJ Media:

Federal Court: DOJ Must Reimburse South Carolina for Voter ID Folly

 

January 5th, 2013 - 9:28 am

by J. Christian Adams

A federal court has ruled that South Carolina was the prevailing party in the unnecessary Voter ID litigation, and therefore the Justice Department is liable for paying the state’s costs. South Carolina spent $3,500,000 to obtain federal court approval of the state’s Voter ID law as non-discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit was made necessary only because of the political and ideological radicalism of Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez and his deputy Matthew Colangelo.

PJ Media had this exclusive report detailing that career Voting Section employees, including Voting Section Chief Chris Herren, recommended that the Voter ID law be approved in the first place by DOJ after a careful written analysis inside the Voting Section. Documents prepared by the career staff urged Perez and Colangelo to grant administrative approval to the South Carolina Voter ID law — but they refused. Their refusal was, in part, designed to energize a moribund political base heading into the 2012 election.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office was quick to respond to the court’s ruling late yesterday: