For the left, no holiday is off-limits for shameless political flacking. On Monday, Hollywood celebrities used Martin Luther King Day to push the Democrats’ “voting rights” bills that are designed to seize election oversight power from states and roll back measures including voter identification requirements.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “there is no higher priority” for the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) than charging and prosecuting those involved in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Democrats are pushing another federal takeover of elections with the so-called John Lewis Voting Right Advancement Act. This one is a power grab forcing states to get permission from the Democrat-controlled federal government before implementing election integrity measures like voter ID and other constitutional safeguards.
Democrats held a press conference on Tuesday at the Capitol to support the Voting Rights Advancement Act but mostly lashed out at the GOP.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) unveiled an abortion policy on Tuesday that treats pro-life states the way Jim Crow states were treated in the civil rights era — effectively treating Christian voters like racists.
The Supreme Court weighed in on redistricting fights in crucial 2020 presidential swing states, blocking four lower-court decisions on Friday, as the justices prepare to decide how much unelected judges can weigh in on politicians’ drawing legislative district lines.
A federal judge ruled on Friday that Florida Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner must provide polling places with election ballots printed in Spanish, reports state.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Texas’s legislative districting plan by a 5-4 decision against charges that the legislative lines violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) or the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a pleading Wednesday saying the judge should take no more action in the voter ID lawsuit against Texas because the State’s new law “eradicates any discriminatory effect or intent” of the prior law. Moreover, the new law is “constitutionally and legally valid.”
The panel of judges presiding over the Texas redistricting case has ordered the Lone Star State to a redistricting trial on July 10. The trial will be over plans passed in June 2013. The trial is being expedited because of the 2018 election deadlines.
Two federal judges have ruled that Texas lawmakers drew congressional maps to discriminate against minority voters, especially Hispanics. The dissenting judge countered that the ruling is “fatally infected, from start to finish, with the misunderstanding that race, rather than partisan advantage,” was the intent behind the 2011 maps.
An Obama nominee presiding over the photo voter ID lawsuit issued an order on Monday finding that the State of Texas did not meet its burden to show that the law was not passed with a discriminatory purpose in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Two federal judges have released an opinion that accuses Lone Star State legislators of drawing a congressional map in a “rushed and secretive process” that intended to discriminate against Hispanic and Democrat voters. The only problem says the dissenting jurist–the panel could not legally issue the decision because the Fifth Circuit made clear that after Texas repealed the 2011 plan, “the case became moot and eliminated the district’s jurisdiction.”
The Associated Press is reporting that the Trump Administration will be ending the federal government’s opposition to Texas’ photo voter identification law.
The Texas voter ID “fix” instituted before the November presidential election, which allowed citizens without proper documentation to sign a sworn affidavit indicating why they could not procure one in time, now leaves local election officials considering whether “hundreds” of voters should be referred to prosecutors for abusing the safety net.
A federal magistrate delayed the next hearing in the Texas voter ID case so that the Trump Administration has time to reassess.
Just before city candidates will begin to sign up for running for office, a federal judge has issued a judgment and injunction prohibiting the City of Pasadena from using what she ruled was an unconstitutional redistricting plan. The municipality will also be placed under federal “preclearance” for six years–requiring Justice Department approval to any changes to election rules.
Pasadena, Texas, will be monitored by the Justice Department now that a federal judge has ruled that the City violated the Voting Rights Act by intentionally changing its city council districts to decrease Hispanic influence. The City, which the court ruled has a “long history of discrimination against minorities,” will have to get permission from the DOJ to make any changes in election policy going forward, otherwise known as pre-clearance.
The Obama appointee presiding over the Texas voter photo ID lawsuit ordered the State to toss some of its voter education materials because federal lawyers did not like the exact language in printed. Although lawyers for the State gave the DOJ and liberal voting rights groups a copy of the proposed language on August 11, they waited until less than 60 days before the November election to complain. This was after financial and other resources had been expended by the State.
