Ouch.  In San Francisco, an analysis of the recent mayoral election reveals the limits of the voting system.

At the link, you can find the entire opinion of the majority opinion and dissent of the three-judge panel with the interim and alternate plan.  The dissent of Judge Jerry E. Smith is scathing and will undoubtedly serve as the basis for Texas seeking Supreme Court intervention for a fairer interim plan.  It is apparent that the three-judge panel simply accepted every assertion the plaintiff’s made without any critical eye on the actual caselaw.  The online congressional newspaper, The Hill pointed out the Democrat glee and called this ruling: the interim Texas redistricting plan that could bring back Speaker Pelosi.  These interim maps could not have dreamed of or drawn to better specifications by the Democrats or their liberal allies. 

In his dissent, Judge Smith sounds the alarm of an activist court run amok:

“The judges in the majority, with the purest of intentions, have instead produced a runaway plan that imposes an extreme redistricting scheme for the Texas House of Representatives, untethered to the applicable caselaw.  The practical effect is to award judgment on the pleadings in favor of one side — a slam duck victory for the plaintiffs — at the expense of the redistricting plan by the Legislature, before key decisions have been made on binding questions of law. Because this is a grave error at the preliminary interim stage of the redistricting process, I respectfully dissent.”  “Unless the Supreme Court enters the fray at once to force a stay or a revision, this litigation, is for most practical purposes, at and end.” 

Criticisms of the majority

“The interim phase is not the time for this court to impose the radical alterations in the Texas political landscape that the majority has now mandated.  In almost every instance in which one or more plaintiffs ask for a substantial change that would upset a legislative choice, the majority has elected to order that revision, immediately, in the interim redistricting plans that are effective for the 2012 elections.”

“The majority’s general approach of maximizing the drawing of minority opportunity districts…”

“Not content, however, with making these justified changes, the majority ventures into other areas of the State and sitting as a mini-legislature, engrafts it policy preferences statewide..” 

Judge Smith summarizes and concludes:

“In summary, it is difficult to overstate what the majority – with the purest of intentions – has wrought in ordaining its ambitious scheme.  Its plan is far-reaching and extreme.  The plan expands the role of a three-judge interim court well beyond what is legal, practical, or fair.“

“Because the conscientious and well-intentioned majority has ventured far beyond its proper role in announcing an interim redistricting plan for the Texas House of Representatives, I respectfully dissent, and I offer this alternate plan in response, in the hope that on appeal, the Supreme Court will provide appropriate and immediate guidance.”

At this article, there seems to be movement toward a vote on LB 239, the vehicle for voter ID in the last session.

The bill was held over and will likely be taken up during the first few
weeks of the next regular session, which begins in January 

Here.  Wisconsin’s election
board on Tuesday authorized a state university to issue identification
cards that students can use to comply with the new law requiring voters
to present photo ID at polling places.

story at the link.  TOPEKA, Kan. — A special task force created by Secretary of State
Kris Kobach has finished writing 15 pages of regulations detailing how
the new Kansas voter identification laws will be implemented next year
by county poll workers.

Kobach said Tuesday that the work of the 17-member
group outlines how county election officials will require voters to show
valid forms of identification when registering to vote and requesting
ballots during election. The laws were approved by legislators and
signed by Gov. Sam Brownback in the spring.

Kobach, a conservative Republican who is known
nationally for his work on immigration reforms laws, said the
regulations represent the work of “the collective experience” of
elections officers from across Kansas.

Here.  The Texas AG statement on congressional interim maps:

“The court’s proposed Congressional map seems to depart from the
law just as much as its proposed state legislative maps. The court
issued a map without any explanation, but still, it seems apparent that
the proposed map misapplies federal law and continues the court’s trend
of inappropriately venturing into political policymaking rather than
simply applying the law. Perhaps worst, in the name of protecting
Hispanic voting power, the court seems to be discarding already elected
Republican Hispanics in favor of drawing maps that may elect Democratic
Hispanics. That is not and should not be the proper role of the court or
the proper application of the Voting Rights Act. If the final interim
map does not meaningfully change, the Texas Attorney General’s Office is
prepared to immediately appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to correct
this improper overreach by unelected federal judges.

 PJ Tatler.

Former Congressman Artur Davis discusses:

The artificial creation of legislative districts with a majority of minorities (majority minority districts) is counterproductive and distorts normal politics, says a former beneficiary of such districts, retired Democratic Rep. Artur Davis.

“Like many generally good ideas in politics, it has been pushed to its limit and now it creates perverse consequences. … It has made race even more important in southern politics, and that’s not a good thing,” he told The Daily Caller during an exclusive interview in Washington, D.C.

 Matt Vadum has the story at the Bigs.

 Who knew.  Felons illegally participated in the 2008 and 2010 elections in Minnesota.  And it took years to find out.  Someone alert Tova Wang so she can amend her report written in 2010