Ku Klux Kourt Kills King's Dream Law = Greg Palast, Truthout

[Coyotl]

Ku Klux Kourt Kills King's Dream Law, Replaces Voting Rights Act With Katherine Harris Acts
http://truth-out.org/news/item/17204-ku-klux-kourt-kills-kings-dream-law-replaces-voting-rights-act-with-katherine-harris-acts

Tuesday, 25 June 2013 13:34 By Greg Palast, Truthout | News Analysis

They might as well have burned a cross on Dr. King's grave. The Jim Crow majority on the Supreme Court just took away the vote of millions of Hispanic and African-American voters by wiping away Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

*****

I'm so angry, so distraught by this, that I've asked my foundation to release my film, Election Files, for free. This is a no-BS, no charge download of my series of investigative reports for BBC Television and RollingStone.com. Click here.

Furthermore, I'm directing the Palast Investigative Team to drop all other work for a 'round-the-clock investigation of the Theft of 2014 and 2016 elections that the Supreme Court's ruling sets in motion. Help us. Join us.

*****

When I say "millions" of voters of color will lose their ballots, I'm not kidding. Let's add it up. .........

[byeya]

1. The headline is all you need to read - right on the money

[Coyotl]

2. PETITION: Daily Kos and Color of Change pushing for right to vote regardless of race

Please join Daily Kos and Color of Change by pushing for a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to vote regardless of race. Click here to sign the petition.

In a 5-4 decision today, an ultra-conservative U.S. Supreme Court struck down key enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act, including those which required states with a history of racial disenfranchisement to get pre-approval from the US Department of Justice before those states could change voting laws. This opens the floodgates for states to pass restrictive voting laws across the country, such as voter identification laws and gerrymandered redistricting, that have the intended goal of preventing people of color from accessing the ballot box.

Millions of Americans are now threatened by attacks on our ability to vote, if we don’t act.

It’s a little known fact that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to vote for everyone, but we are fighting to change this. Please sign the petition to join Daily Kos, Color of Change, and a growing movement to pass a constitutional amendment guaranteeing and protecting the freedom to vote for all.

Keep fighting,
Paul Hogarth, Daily Kos

SIGN: http://www.freetovote.org/free-to-vote

[cascadiance]

3. Yep the SCROTUMS have done it again...

SCROTUMS (Supreme Court Righties Or Tore Up My Society) are the enemy of this country.

Republicans and this extreme right just seem to want a violent world... Whether it's more war, more guns, or more totalitarianism leaving us no option at some point but violent revolt. I wonder if they really want what they are wishing for, which I feel at some point if they push it too far, they will feel it a lot more than the rest of the world feels it in the end.

[Coyotl]

4. The Best Lines From Ginsburg's Dissent on the Voting Rights Act Decision

The Best Lines From Ginsburg's Dissent on the Voting Rights Act Decision
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/06/best-lines-ginsburg-dissent-voting-rights-act-decision

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a fiery dissent to the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision Tuesday striking down the part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that determines which cities and states need to seek approval from the Department of Justice before changing their voting laws. The provision was designed to focus attention on areas with a history of discrimination. "Hubris is a fit word for today's demolition of the VRA," Ginsburg wrote.

Here are five key excerpts from her dissent:

"When confronting the most constitutionally invidious form of discrimination, and the most fundamental right in our democratic system, Congress' power to act is at its height."

"Demand for a record of violations equivalent to the one earlier made would expose Congress to a catch-22. If the statute was working, there would be less evidence of discrimination, so opponents might argue that Congress should not be allowed to renew the statute. In contrast, if the statute was not working, there would be plenty of evidence of discrimination, but scant reason to renew a failed regulatory regime."

"Just as buildings in California have a greater need to be earthquake­ proofed, places where there is greater racial polarization in voting have a greater need for prophylactic measures to prevent purposeful race discrimination."

"Congress approached the 2006 reauthorization of the VRA with great care and seriousness. The same cannot be said of the Court's opinion today. The Court makes no genuine attempt to engage with the massive legislative record that Congress assembled. Instead, it relies on increases in voter registration and turnout as if that were the whole story. See supra, at 18–19. Without even identifying a standard of review, the Court dismissively brushes off arguments based on "data from the record," and declines to enter the "debat[e about] what [the] record shows"…One would expect more from an opinion striking at the heart of the Nation's signal piece of civil-rights legislation."

"Given a record replete with examples of denial or abridgment of a paramount federal right, the Court should have left the matter where it belongs: in Congress’ bailiwick."

Ginsburg's dissent also rattled off these eight examples of race-based voter discrimination in recent history:

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[felix_numinous]

5. During the presidency of

the first African American to hold this office. What is happening to this country?

[Coyotl]

6. That's the problem in their minds.

What is particularly ironic is Clarence Thomas voting to strike down voting rights protection. I can understand the old white guys trying to stop minorities from voting, but Thomas?

[felix_numinous]

7. Events are becoming surreal

Whistleblower fleeing to Russia and voting rights lost now ..

[Quantess]

8. I'm still stunned by the decision. K & R (no text)