scales of injustice
A federal judge in Florida, Robert Hinkle, gave the go-ahead on Thursday (June 28) to the state-level registration list censors to x out the franchise for as many Latino voters as they can get away with. The decision was made in response to a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice mandating that the discriminatory process be terminated.
The precedent for the suit was the 1964 Voting Rights Act, which ruled that decisions made by certain states found in the past to practice racial discrimination in this setting must be submitted for "federal preclearance."
According to NYU's Brennan Center for Justice, "To compile its purge list, the state used information from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. This database does not track citizenship status."
Although the list of so-called illegal immigrants had to be trimmed down from 180,000 to a few grand because of a plethora of inaccuracies, and even though federal law (the 1994 "Motor Voter" Act) prohibits eliminating voters from registration lists within ninety days of an election--Florida has a primary in August--a blood-curdling precedent has been set. Yes, this time nothing was said about a one-time decision.
Yes, Florida is Florida and aside from that, history records that in 2000 election-related situations were even worse in other states. But where a place like Mississippi will probably eliminate its last standing abortion clinic soon, hell is the limit to other epidemics.
If seems that there have been many right-wing triumphs lately surrounding Justice Roberts's crucial pro-ACA decision the other day, but consider this: Congress passed the jobs and transportation act and Stafford Loan interest freeze the other day.
There is every reason to believe that . . . (fill in the blank).
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