Let the latest from Ryan Reilly remind Republicans flirting with aiding the NAACP with any amendment to Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act – your “allies” in the leftist media will still attack you no matter what you do. The latest ideological and inaccurate piece from Reilly begins:
The best hope for replacing a key provision of the Voting Rights Act is a white Republican lawyer from Wisconsin who supports voter ID laws, thinks the Justice Department went easy on the New Black Panther Party, played a key role in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and once said first lady Michelle Obama has a “big butt.”
Republicans should take careful note – the race groups seeking your support for a Section 4 fix will have nice things to say about you only until the ink dries on the President’s signature. Reilly slipped up and provided an early preview of what happens after the ink dries.

Author Archives: J Christian Adams
Voter Registration and Obamacare
What do they have in common? John Fund has the answer.
Indeed, voter registration is among the goals of the folks hawking Obamacare. The People’s World newspaper reports: “California’s Secretary of State Debra Bowen is designating the state’s new Health Benefit Exchange, Covered California, as a voter registration agency under the National Voter Registration Act. That means Covered California will be incorporating voter registration into every transaction — online, in-person and by phone — it has with consumers.” It seems as if some Obama supporters have found a new way to fill the void left by the bankruptcy of ACORN, the notorious left-wing voter-registration group that saw dozens of its employees in multiple states convicted of fraud.
Correcting Some Testimony from Yesterday’s Hearing
Yesterday I testified at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee. Also testifying was Robert Kengle. A couple of comments about his testimony. The Court in Shelby also concluded that Congress weakened the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance requirements in 2006 when it altered the Section 5 standards. Beginning in 2006, submitting jurisdictions were forced to prove a negative. Congress required them to prove the absence of “any” discriminatory effect by inserting “any” into Section 5. Any means any. The Justice Department Civil Rights Division has taken the 2006 amendments literally when reviewing submissions like Georgia’s proof of citizenship requirement to register to vote, or South Carolina’s voter identification law. The DOJ adopted a de minimis trigger for interposing an objection despite mitigating facts and objected in multiple instances – including in Georgia and South Carolina. In Shelby, the Supreme Court rejected the concept of so-called “second generation” structural racism to justify continued federal oversight of elections in 15 states. Congress should heed the warning. According to the Supreme Court, genuine, direct and immediate racial discrimination alone justifies federal intrusion into state sovereignty, not vague and attenuated so-called “second generational structural” discrimination. The Court made it clear that only certain current conditions could justify a formula for Section 5 coverage. Among the touchstones listed in Shelby are: “blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees,” lack of minority office holding, tests and devices, “voting discrimination ‘on a pervasive scale,’” “flagrant” voting discrimination, or “rampant” voting discrimination. Again, pay close attention to the Supreme Court. Federal intrusion into powers reserved by the Constitution to the states must relate to these empirical circumstances. Triggers built around political or partisan goals cannot withstand Constitutional scrutiny.
First, in describing Shelby, he indicated that the Court did not strike down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and said it was constitutional. Well, not really. In fact, the plaintiff in the case deliberately never challenged Section 5, so the issue was not even before the Court. Section 5 was only at issue in the case is so far as it informed the amount of burden a state faces under Section 4. And on that score, Kengle was doubly wrong because the Court spoke directly to the heavier burden of the reauthorized Section 5. Because we can’t expect most in the media or academics to correct testimony from one of their own, here was a relevant portion of my written testimony:
Next, Kengle said that the Supreme Court did not preclude classes of evidence that Congress may look to in developing new Congressional triggers. Wrong again. The entire Shelby case was about preclusion of Congressional evidence. His assertion, frankly, was surprising given the entire posture of the case. But the Court even got specific. Again, from my testimony:
As I said, we can’t count on academics to correct misstatements of any witnesses with whom they agree. Perhaps this is why Hans von Spakovsky being asked to testify yesterday bothers them so badly. There is no longer a monopoly on the Voting Rights Act narrative.
Video of Judiciary Committee Hearing on Shelby
Here is the video stream of the hearing on the Voting Rights Act yesterday in case you missed it. The fun starts around minute 36.
DOJ Civil Rights Division Circumvents Congress With No Pay Jobs
Carolina May has this story at the Daily Caller how the DOJ Civil Rights Division is circumventing Congressional opposition to giving the controversial component more lawyers. Just make them work for free!!
Brand New Low, Even for Soros Money: Section 8 Enforcement = “Bullying”
Project Vote, the George Soros funded organization is nothing if not predictable. Today it published this paper opposing the practice of states checking their voter rolls with other states to see if people are registered twice. Worse, the paper characterizes enforcement of federal law, namely Section 8 of the NVRA, as “bullying.”
Julie Fernandes (once of the Justice Department, now at Soros’ Open Society Foundation) was also against enforcement of Section 8 and removing ineligible voters through court decree. But federal law is federal law. And if states enter into agreement to share data to discover illegal voters, that’s something all Americans should applaud. Unfortunately, in some places, lawlessness is preferred.
Belligerent Melowese Richardson Sentenced to 5 Years
The video of the sentencing of Melowese Richardson has it all: race, belligerence, excuses, women in a coma, lawlessness and all of the psychological traits that fuel voter fraud. Behold:
For a local news summary click here. Notice that the judge addresses the voter fraud deniers at the 8minute mark who say voter fraud isn’t very pervasive. He compares it to seeing a few insects, a few termites. Beware – some thin skinned folks get greatly offended at insect references when it comes to criminal voter fraudsters.
Another Post Shelby Bad Idea: Polarization Trigger
Another bad idea from the left: Base new triggers on the existence of racial polaraization.
The problem? Racial polarization coefficients are always highest in the black community. At what point should rewards follow racial block voting? If the white coefficients were higher than black coefficients, this idea might have more steam. Otherwise, it’s a rancid reward for block voting behavior.
Democrats call for voter fraud inquiry into voter fraud inquiry
Per the Miami Herald, that’s a lot of inquires for something that doesn’t exist. Or it only exists with voter fraud inquiries into voter fraud allegations into Republican voter fraudsters by voter fraud deniers.
Voter Intimidation in a Mississippi Court – DOJ Snoozes
A judge in Mississippi has ordered a new election after voter intimidation and bullying infected a Mississippi election.
Johnson ruled that Kimberly Readus, a member of the Canton Democratic Municipal Executive Committee, used “profanity and bullying tactics to create a breach of the peace, intimidate voters and poll workers to disrupt the election process.”
You can read the whole story here at the Clarion Ledger. But if you work for the DOJ Voting Section (and we appreciate all the traffic every day, we really do), don’t waste your time. This is an exercise in throwing a dog an imaginary bone. If you chase the story, you’ll be deflated. Wrong skin color.
Nobody at DOJ will do anything about this judicially determined case of voter intimidation. Of course you know why. In this case, the perp did his deeds to help a relative of Ike Brown, so he’ll get a pass from all of those attorneys desperately combing for a new Section 2 case while a Section 11(b) case may be a phone call and plane ride away.
Hat tip to Morning Vent.