Saturday, March 28, 2009

Canyon Creek MUD district case goes to SCOTUS

A "Mr Zimmerman goes to Washington" story: Don Zimmerman's attempt to move a Canyon Creek MUD district ballot box to a more sensible location back in 2002 has evolved into a challenge to the preclearance provisions the Voting Rights Act. And now it heads to the Supreme Court:

The case, which the high court will hear on April 29, focuses on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The clause requires state and local governments deemed to have historically suppressed minority votes to obtain Justice Department approval before altering election practices -- even something as minor as moving a polling station.
What is being challenged is the interference by the Justice Dept in such local decisions. Further, the Voting Rights Act has a discriminatory aspect to its legislation, penalizing certain parts of the country for their racist past by requiring regulatory hoops that the rest of the country is not subject to. It assumes that Austin, Texas is more inclined to prejudice than Illinois or New York or Massachusetts. Maybe it was true some time ago, but if I may consider my own personal experience, that is surely wrong today.

3 comments:

Pat O'Grady said...

Freedom's Truth wrote: "Further, the Voting Rights Act has a discriminatory aspect to its legislation, penalizing certain parts of the country for their racist past by requiring regulatory hoops that the rest of the country is not subject to."

Sadly that's only a small part of the problem. Several SCOTUS rulings have made Section 2 of the 1965 VRA seem to say that you may NEVER dilute the minority votes in a "minority-majority" district. Basically that means if a hispanic district has 55% minorities (Black, Indian, Asian, etc.) you may NEVER change the district to less than 55% minority. That means we have deeded the district to the Dems for eternity!!

The recent SCOTUS decision in Bartlett v. Strickland has changed that thinking somewhat, but section 2 of the VRA needs to challenged in toto ... someday maybe?

Anonymous said...

Down with the NRA

Anonymous said...

NRA? National Recovery Act?
National Rifle Association?