Plaintiffs from the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap Reservations say in a lawsuit before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals they must drive long distances to county courthouses for early voting and late registration.

They say that leaves them disadvantaged compared to white voters.

But in the run-up to last fall’s election, U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull ruled there was no evidence Indians couldn’t vote for the candidate of their choice.

Justice Department attorneys say in a friend-of-the-court brief filed this week that Cebull overlooked discrimination suffered by Indians who lack the resources to travel far.”

The Justice Department filed an amicus brief in the 9th Circuit.  If the DOJ believes not having satellite election offices is discriminatory, it certainly could have filed a lawsuit last fall when the private plaintiffs filed the case. Or, it might have filed a motion to intervene and undertaken genuine Section 2 litigation.  Instead, the Department seems to prefer to pontificate through amicus briefs.  Fine, but recognize that the claim that the Bush administration didn’t vigorously enforce federal voting laws looks more absurd with each passed opportunity for the Obama administration to actually litigate a case.  It also makes Pam Karlan’s false scholarship about the Bush Section 2 enforcement record look even more dishonest.