You know me? Then you know the single most important thing I believe is that voting is the single most important responsibility and right we have as a citizens of our nation. Doing so, exercising your right to agree or dissent, is worth fighting for; so much so that many have died to honor it - both on government sanctioned battlefields and through civil unrest within our borders. It is THE hallmark of Democracy as we know it. A hallmark - not to be diluted by anything - hence it's inalienable-ness. You here? You get to vote. Done.
Well...not so much. Wish that it were that easy. Today, SCOTUS (at least a slim but legitimate majority of it) decided to strike down a major section of the Voting Rights Act. Section 4. Which establishes how we (the people) have deemed to determine just how racist and fucked up you can be before the Feds are going to decide to step in and monitor your voting methods. Think it doesn't do much? Think it won't undermine the entirety of the Act? Your wrong. There's a lot of slippery slopes that had to be mounted and conquered before the VRA was enacted. The slipperiest of the slopes just won. For once (and probably only once) I agree with Clarence Thomas. If the Court was gutting Section 4, they might as well gut 5. Because Clarence can see the clearance that SCOTUS just opened up for pre-clearance to be all but useless. The irony is that the formula works - because a ton of places have been taken off pre-clearance. It's just the most racist places that haven't. So - um- yeah...I guess what? huh...just at a loss.
You could argue that the Court's opinion does not invalidate the rationale behind Section 4, just the formula - so all Congress has to do is take a now unconstitutional act and make it whole again. And you'd be generally right (I think). But, for some perspective, the last time the VRA was renewed, it was done so with potentially the greatest bi-partisan approval of both houses of any bill. 98-0 in the Senate. 390-33 in the House (side-note: never underestimate the dickish quotient in the House regardless of the majority party). Bush II signed it while huddled among the titans of the Civil Rights Movement and its benefactors. All was good with the world...an act that had been righteously fought for with blood, sweat, tears, and a few of my own father's footsteps was protected again. We all (at least all but 33 of us) came together yet again to say that voting was worth continued governance and Federal protection - because it's a fight that's been fought. It's settled law. It's a law that goes out of its damn way NOT to restrict or place at risk the rights of any citizen. These are the laws that don't change. Gutting it? Well, the Court has opened the door for the fight to start again. And, I'm sure - sadly - that it will. And, I am saddened by the potential and what I consider likely impacts of what this Court's majority opinion will reap. And, let's throw in the potential for that to occur during what is by far the most deeply ideologically divided and juvenile Congress I've ever known. Re-writes should be a cake-walk.
Of Course.